


The 12 Days of Christmas

by Spazzo47



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-17 19:58:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13084284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spazzo47/pseuds/Spazzo47
Summary: For Lilac Mermaid's Fan Fiction Challenge -- SecretsThe life of a journalist requires the uncovering of secrets, but when the team learns of one secret, can they keep their secrets from the others?





	1. Prologue

**PREFACE**

“Mac, don’t do this.”

Mac stepped away from Will and turned her back to him. She couldn’t face him without falling apart. “The first time we were together I thought you had enough love to cover my mistake. When I came to News Night, I hoped and prayed I had enough love for both of us. But now I know that it takes both of us to make this work.”

Will heard the sorrow in Mac’s voice. He started to raise his hand to turn her around, but stopped. She didn’t want that indignity, not now. “Mac.”

“Can you honestly say that either of us have given all we need to?”

Will squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that he had never known his Mackenzie to be wrong about anything. And he has never wanted her to be wrong more than at this moment. “I can do better. We, we can do better. Please honey. You’re breaking my heart.”

Her voice broke as she put her head down. “Mine too. You’re the love of my life Will and I don’t regret a moment that I spent with you. But it’s time. You have to know that.”

He wanted to fight. He wanted to tell her that he didn’t know it, but she was right. He didn’t have enough love for both of them. “How does this work? Do we sit down with Brandon? Tell our friends? Are you going to fire me?”

“I can’t fire you. It’d not the end of the week.” Mac allowed herself a smile. “We don’t have to make too many alterations to our lives, at least not yet.” Mac sniffled and rubbed a tear from her eye. It took everything in Will not to reach for her, to comfort her, but he knew that she would wriggle from him. She wanted to be strong. “I’ll go to work early, you take Brandon to daycare. I’ll stay busy in my office and pick him up in the evening, bring him to say goodbye to his daddy and the crew before we go home. And after the show, you’ll be free to do whatever.”

She didn’t mean to hurt him anymore than he already was, but hearing her give him permission… like he wanted anyone else. Or would want anyone else. “Are you dropping him off at my… hotel or wherever?”

“I was thinking you could stay here through the holidays. I’ll take the guest room for the month, let you preserve your back.”

“And we’ll just pretend that we’re still a happy, married couple and then usher in 2018 by breaking everyone’s hearts.”

“Will, I don’t know what else to do. I work 12-hour days and I come home and I don’t have the energy to be what you need and what he needs. I love you, that hasn’t changed, but I can’t fight for us anymore. And I don’t want to break our son’s heart before Christmas. I want him to have a magical memory before we change his life.“

Will put his arms around her and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. “I’ll take the guest room. And I’ll be home after the show.   I know we can’t fix this, so I’ll come home for him.”

Mac burrowed herself in his embrace, wanting to commit all of this to memory. And when the moment passed, she left their bedroom to meet their son who she heard get out of bed, probably to ask for a glass of water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had hoped to have enough of this written to post a chapter a day and finish on Christmas at the latest. I've got the first three days of Christmas and now hope to be done by early January. I can't promise a chapter a day pace, but dang it I'm gonna try.


	2. A Partridge in a Pear Tree

**The First Day of Christmas**

_And a partridge in a pear tree_

Will walked past the ACN Morning studio after dropping off Brandon. When he walked past with Brandon, they had been in commercial, but on his return trip, they had a group of live carolers in the studio, a feature they intended to do through Christmas. When Mac told him how excited Tony and Maria were to do it, her indifference was only matched by his own. Now that he had to hear the infernal racket, he wished she had shut Tony down. He looked in one of the windows and saw the carolers waving. He answered by flipping them the bird and saying “fuck off”. He only wished that they could hear him.

As he walked into his own bullpen, he felt ambushed by Jim, Martin and Jenna in that order. Each wanted something and each got the same answer. “Do whatever you want.” As he got into his office, he thought he heard Jim tell Martin that Will did not mean that Martin could have a paid day off. Will rolled his eyes and sat at his desk until he heard a knock at his office door.

“Will, time for the rundown.” Will nodded his head and got up to follow his new EP. He had to stop calling Jim that. Jim has had the job almost as long as Mac did. He’s never been able to get used to him though. In Will’s mind, Mac has always owned the job of Will’s EP. Jim made a lot of the same decisions Mac would have, but his newsroom lacked the passion. It ran smoothly, less chaotic than Mac’s, but sometimes he enjoyed coming to work never knowing who was going to scream something ridiculous in the middle of the newsroom. Of course, usually he and Mac screamed at each other, and that hadn’t happened since they found a way to get along.

Will reclined back in his chair, staring off in space causing Jim to look around for whatever had Will’s attention. “Will?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Rundown. Uh, I’ll be there in a second. Go ahead and start without me.”

Jim nodded his head and started to leave. After a step, he turned around. “Will, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s good. Couldn’t be better.”

Will’s answer did nothing to convince Jim. “Will, if you need to talk, even if it’s about Mac. I’m probably your best option, besides professionals.”

Will took a second to consider what he said. “Thanks Jim. I’ll be down in a second.”

Jim left this time after a short nod of the head. Will’s mind drifted again. “What would Charlie do?” The thought made him smile. Charlie would come up with some story, like he was Mother Fucking Goose. And then he’d say something like, “All marriages are hard Will, but you can’t let it end. She’s the best part of you. Don’t just sit here, fight for her man. And then, make me a grandpa again.”

Will looked at his barware. “I don’t know how. God, I wish you were here.”

^^^^^^^^^^^

The day went on as many do. Towards the end of it, Mac called Jim to ask if Will was around. Jim told her that he didn’t see Will in his office and asked if she tried texting him. “No, we’re just missing each other. I need to pick up Brandon and I wanted him to see his dad.”

“Mac is everything ok?”

“What? Yeah. It’s just been a day. Budget meeting’s coming up and, well, you know.” IT wasn’t a lie. A misdirection maybe, but definitely not a lie. She did have a long day and she did have the budget meeting. Those are facts, facts don’t lie. That makes her answer the truth. It doesn’t feel like it, but every statement she made was true.

Jim nodded his head. “It has been for Will too.”

“I’d imagine. If you see him, let him know I’m on my way down with the kid and then we need to take off pretty quick.”

“You know if you need to run some errands, we can keep an eye on him.”

“Will’s a big boy. He can mostly take care of himself.” She thought teasing would make things seem more normal. It didn’t help. And the joke fell like a lead balloon, though Mac wondered if that was because Jim was the most humorless SOB she ever met.

Mac and Brandon arrived in the News Night newsroom and immediately the 3 year old squirmed away from his mother to run to Aunt Tess and Aunt Jenna. Seeing that he was in good hands, and would likely have sticky ones in the near future, Mac started walking to the control room. She didn’t really have a purpose for going there, but she felt drawn to the room. Rhett Butler told Scarlet O’Hara that Tara is where she drew strength. Will McAvoy said the same about Mac and the control room. As she passed Neal, she heard him call her name. When she turned, he pointed out that Will just got back from where ever he was. She nodded her head and said thanks. And then she took a partial step before turning around again. She made an excuse about being needed in control before she continued her trip.

She hadn’t thought about this. She thought that Will would be out for a while and she wouldn’t have to think about how to greet him. She didn’t want anyone to think something was wrong, but greeting him like nothing happened wasn’t right either.

As Mac disappeared into the control room, Neal looked at Will picking up his son and made eye contact with Tess who came to his desk.

“What’s up Neal?”

“Something’s wrong with Will and Mac.”

Tess took a second to think about it and said, “You’re right. What happened?”

“I don’t know. I though you may have heard something.”

Jenna joined the pair and said, “Are we talking about Will and Mac?”

Tess answered, “What do you know?”

“They’ve been acting weird for a while now, and then she just went to the control room without talking to him.”

“I saw that too. Do we need to do something?”

Neal looked sideways at Jenna, “Like what? Put together a flash mob at the Christmas party?”

Gary walked past and stopped when he saw the group.   Tess looked around. “You know, that’s not the worst idea ever.”

Neal got animated as he said, “Yes, yes it is. Tell her Gary.”

“I have no idea what y’all are talking about, but I agree with Neal.”

Jenna answered, “You really don’t think we could pull off a flash mob for Will and Mac?”

Sloane joined the group when she got distracted from going to see Brandon, who at this point made himself at home in his father’s office. “Flash mob? For Will and Mac. Someone needs to spill.”

Tess started, “I thought was could do a song like _Baby It’s Cold Outside_ and dance at them in all directions so they have to end up together.”

Gary looked at her dumbfounded. “You know what that song is about, don’t you?”

Neal answered, “Actually, it’s a standard and has never been interpreted like that until –“

“Recently when we decided it wasn’t cool to drug a woman into staying the night.”

Jenna looked over and saw Mac. “Guys, she’s coming.”

Mac looked suspiciously at the group that had congregated by Neal’s desk. “What are you all up to?”

Sloane said the first thing that came to her mind. “Cat videos! Neal found a bunch of cute… cats.”

Mac smiled. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but you are all very bad at keeping a secret.” She scanned the room. “Does anyone know what happened to my son?”

Tess said, “He went to Will’s office when Will got back.”

“Oh. OK. Then I um, should, uh, go get him and then, we’re ah, going to go home. Lots of things to do at home. Me and Brandon. Will has to work, so he’ll stay here.”

As Mac started walked away from the group to her husband’s office, Sloane said, “She thinks she’s better at lying than us? We’ll show her. What’s the plan?”

Tess answered quickly, “flash mob. Most romantic songs we can do. _That’s What I Want for Christmas, Kissin’ by the Mistletoe, I’d Like You for Christmas”_

Gary said, “I don’t believe you know any of those songs.”

“No, but Neal looked up the titles and they looked romantic.”

Neal said, “I don’t think we can put a flash mob together, but I bet that we can do karaoke. Each of us takes a turn and request that they dance.”

Jenna noticed that Mac hadn’t made it to Will’s office and looked like she might start walking back to them. “Careful, she’s coming.”

Sloan looked around. “We’re going to need a new place to meet. There’s a conference room on 16. Let’s go there.”

Everyone agreed and started walking. Neal quickly said, “Not all at once. Everyone back to your desks, and then slowly, one at a time, we can each make our way down there.”

Will saw Mac wandering around in the bullpen so he picked up their son and walked to her. “What are they doing?”

“Planning to take over the world? Who knows?”

He gave her an awkward smile and then gave Brandon a hug and kiss goodbye. “Go with mommy. You’ll have a good time tonight.”

“I want to stay with daddy.”

Mac took the boy. “We need to go home Brandon. Come on.”

When the boy didn’t look satisfied, Will rubbed his head and said, “I’ll check in on you when I get home. Be a good boy for mommy, okay?”

“Okay.”

Before turning around, Mac said, “Thanks.”

Will watched his family leave and put his head down, feeling a little sick. When he turned to go back to his office, he noticed Jim watching him. “What the fuck are you looking at?”


	3. Two Calling Birds

**The Second Day of Christmas**

_You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch  
You really are a heel_

Will couldn’t believe they let people sleep on that torture device in their spare room. As he hobbled around ACN Morning’s studio after dropping off Brandon, he wondered if he could talk Mac into getting a new bed for the spare room. Or maybe trading rooms with her. She did offer the other day, although he thought it would be bad form to change his mind now. He could ask if they could share the king size bed in the master. Most nights they didn’t touch each other. At least recently. Of course that seemed more like a problem than a solution.

As he waited for the elevator to take him to his bullpen, he saw Mac running toward him. For a second he thought maybe she was running to him and hoped that maybe she’d changed her mind. They had work to do, but they could do it. He knew that. If they both prioritized… but then he noticed the panic on her face. He looked behind him mentally thinking through the layout of the floor. Behind the morning show’s studio was the daycare. The daycare. They called her, something’s wrong and Brandon is there.

He intercepted her and matched her strides. “Mac, honey, what’s wrong? Did something happen to Brandon?”

Hearing her son’s name immediately pulled Mac out of whatever focus she had. “What? No. Brandon’s fine. The carolers. They didn’t get permission to do today’s song and we need to get them to do a different song and go live.”

“I thought they were already live.”

“Some parts are. This is filler that can be put anywhere and now we need to move it to the end of the show, which means everything gets bumped up and now we have to be live for the rest of the show.”

Will looked at her puzzled, he didn’t understand a word she just said, but he didn’t’ think that was important. “And they need the network president to do that?”

“They need someone to run the control room. Their regular EP isn’t good under pressure.”

Will gave her a teasing smile. “And you couldn’t pass up the chance to work in a control room.”

Mac looked annoyed. “I’m the most qualified person and the only one here.”

Madison poked her head out of the control room and said, “Mac, we need you.”

“I’m sorry, Will, I gotta…”

“I know. Go! Go!”

Mac finished her sprint to the control room and Will started toward the elevator. He saw her disappear behind the door and started walking toward her. When he walked into control, he could only see her back, but knew she was battle ready and focused. A person he didn’t know approached him, but he waved the crew member off and put his index finger to his lips. The person went back to his piece of equipment and no one seemed to notice Will who didn’t notice anyone except Mackenzie. His Mackenzie. He very rarely got to see her like this, in her element, completely in control, handing out orders firmly without ever getting frazzled. So different from the woman he’s spent so much of his life loving, but exactly how he always pictured this. He always believed that he fell in love with her the first time he saw her in a control room. She pretended to call his audition show, it must have been a month after they met. Watching her then was intoxicating, and all these years later, that hadn’t changed.

At the end of the show, he wouldn’t say that he hid in a corner, but he made sure that he stayed out of everyone’s way as they left and hoped for a chance to talk to his wife alone, in a control room. The place where she can do anything. The group walked out, leaving Will and Mac alone.

“Thinking about joining the peasants here in control?”

“You never know. I hear the work is steady?”

“Yeah, but the pay sucks.”

Will ventured to take a step towards her. “But it’s regular hours. More time to be home, do the important things.”

Will saw the regret on her face. “Life is simpler in a control room.”

“What you do is important, Mac.”

Mac nodded her head. “It is. I know it is. But I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore.”

“I would never, ever ask you to give up anything for me. But if you wanted to give up the job I would support you. I know I have –“

She cut him off with shake of her head. He noticed that she had lifted her hand as if to intended to put her finger on his mouth, but thought better of it and his heart sunk. Just a small touch, he ached for anything like that from her. “It’s not just one thing, Will. If I thought it was just my title, I’d step down in a heartbeat.”

“I know. I just… I saw you come in here and I remembered…”

“I know. When I heard the door close behind you, I remembered that night too. You were everything Brian wasn’t. That’s what I was thinking before you walked in and sacred the shit out of me. You showed up and took an interest. And… I don’t know. Maybe back then if I would have remembered that, then… things could have been different. Things would have ended different.”

“Or not. You don’t know what could have been. Maybe it would have been me that fucked things up.”

Mac looked him in the eye. “For two years you were perfect. I was stupid. I wasted so much time.”

“Mac don’t do that.”

Mac looked down at her watch. “I gotta go, Will. I have a meeting with the board and I have to make sure that we’re checking on music selections before we play them.”

She disappeared again, leaving Will alone in the control room. Eventually he turned around, walked out and back to the elevators. When he arrived at his bullpen, he found Jenna, Jim, Sloan, Tess, Martin, and Gary huddled around Neal’s desk.

“Do whatever you want, but you’re not going to use work time on this and I don’t want to have anything at all to do with it.”

Will walked next to Jim and after the younger man’s speech, Will said, “have anything to do with what?”

Will looked around the circle and everyone looked guilty and then went back to their desks, leaving Neal wide eyed looking between Will and Jim. “Nothing, we’re just um, talking… about… Christmas plans. Martin and I wanted to go to Hawaii during break and thought some others might want to come with.”

Will shook his head. He didn’t have the energy to fuck with Neal right now. “Ok.” He looked at Jim and then back to Neal. “Just don’t let it affect your work.”

“No sir.”

When Will went to his office and closed the door, the group congregated around Neal’s desk again. Martin smiled wide. “He actually believed that?”

Everyone looked at Martin. Finally Neal said, “No, there’s no way in hell he believes that.”

“You never know. He may be so distracted.”

“No Martin.” Neal looked around, “Okay everyone, since Jim doesn’t want to help plan this party, let’s plan to meet today at 5 after the 4:00 rundown in the conference room downstairs again. He’ll meet with the techs and we’ll have some time.” The group agreed and returned to their desks.

Mac didn’t make an appearance in the News Night bullpen until 5:30 when she had to pick up Brandon from the company’s daycare. When she arrived, the first thing she noticed was the lack of people. She found Jim in the control room going through cues with Herb. “Jim? Where is everyone?”

Jim shook his head. “I truly don’t want to know.”

“Ah. Well, uh, do you know where Will went?”

“I think he snuck out to get some dinner while everyone was preoccupied.” Mac saw the look Jim gave her and knew she and Will failed to keep the secret from him. “Mac what’s going on?”

Mac thought about what she wanted to say and then shook her head. “I can’t Jim. I needed to find Will to see if he can take Brandon while I get to another meeting I’m late for.” Jim hadn’t seen so much regret in Mac’s face since their first year with News Night.

“I can hang out with Brandon if you need to go. Will should be back soon.”

“Thanks Jim.”

She put Brandon down and ran out of control room. Jim checked with Herb, who told him to go. Herb’s been doing this longer than Jim’s been alive, he doesn’t need the cues, it’s just nice to have sometimes.

Jim took Brandon to his desk, grabbing the kid’s chair they keep at Maggie’s old desk as they walked by. Brandon didn’t want to sit at his chair, so he clinged onto Jim. Jim looked at the toddler on his lap and asked, “did you ask Santa for everything you want this year?” Brandon shook his head. “You didn’t? What did you forget?”

“I want my mommy and daddy to love each other again.”

Jim was at a loss for what to say. He didn’t know if Will heard his son, but when he turned around, Will was there and picked up Brandon, who clinged to his father. Jim excused himself telling Will that Mac needed to go to a meeting and walked quickly to the elevator. When he arrived on the 16th floor, he immediately went to the conference room. Everyone stopped talking and looked at him. “What do you need me to do?”

Neal smiled as the rest of the group started cheering.


	4. Three French Hens

**The Third Day of Christmas**

_Make my wish come true, oh  
All I want for Christmas is you_

Mac arrived at ACN headquarters promptly at 5:00AM. She learned that the only chance that she has of getting anything accomplished during her day is if she arrives before the morning show gets started and she keeps her office lights off. She doesn’t know how the people on 16 know she’s there when her lights on the 44th floor are on, but without fail, they know. And then they monopolize her morning.

She had the rule in place that she would not work more than 12 hours a day except in cases where they had to have 24-hour coverage on a story.   She made that deal with Will. They wanted to make sure that they could have family time. She would leave for work at 4AM, get in at 5. Will would bring Brandon to daycare by 9. Mac would pick up Brandon at 5 and Will would make it home around 10. Will and Mac made sure to eat lunch together and after getting Brandon from daycare, the three of them would go out for dinner. They had the perfect system. At least in the beginning. But, with time, it got easier to bring Brandon to her office for one more task before going to dinner. Then the one thing started taking longer and Will would pick him up from her office and get her takeout that she ate while answering emails or taking a call from the west coast. And before she knew it, the News Night team started expecting her to drop off Brandon at 5 while she went back to her office.

When they got to the point that Mac and Brandon stayed late enough that it made sense for the family to leave work together and Brandon thought ACN was home, Will and Mac had another serious conversation and agreed once again to the 12 hour workday rule. It applied to both of them. But, by that time she had set the expectation that she would be available for work from 5AM to 9PM. Intellectually she knew that it wasn’t good for her or her family, but she kept getting seduced by having to do “just one more thing”. She and Will fought when she couldn’t turn off work. He would remind her that he makes enough that she didn’t have to work and she would come back by telling him that she may not make as much as he does, but her work is just as, if not more important than his. So she worked harder as if to show that ACN needed her and only her in the role of president. During the moments that she could spend with her family, she couldn’t get out from under the phone calls and emails. She seemed to always have a to do list in her head and the wrong word would trigger a reminder that she was behind on something.  The harder she tried to accomplish everything she needed to, the more she felt like she let everyone down.

Mac looked outside her window at the moon. I didn't make sense to her. She could executive produce. She could create the policies and give direction for news. That always came natural to her. She could put the stories together like a puzzle, create the flow, see things that didn’t make sense. She never second-guessed any of that. But, motherhood? Being a wife? She didn’t know how. After three years, she still hadn’t figured it out. She felt more comfortable in a boardroom than in her son’s bedroom. And it scared her. She found something she wasn’t good at and she ran from it. Because that’s easy. That’s how her first relationship with Will ended. She didn’t know how to deal with Will’s shit, so she crawled into bed with the first ex she found. Because sex with Brian was easy. And so was she it turned out.

She can’t think about this. She has to get her work done. And she can, because this is what she’s good at, as long as she focuses. There’s the budget meeting and she has a new proposal for a show that can fill a slot that always gets ignored. She has to focus. She has to push through this workday and then sometime this weekend she can go home and… she doesn’t know how to finish that statement anymore. She ended the family she should look forward to spending time with. And she did that because deep down she knows that if she pushes through this week, she’ll have to spend the weekend getting ready for end of the year reports and employee reviews and the rest of the minutia that she can’t get to during her regular 12, but really 16 hour days.

She tried to will herself to walk back to her desk, but she couldn’t do it. She loved this view. There’s something about this spot that lets her think. She can take a breath and think for a second. Unfortunately today, when she has the budget meeting, the only thing she can think about is all those incredible women who can do what she can’t. They can manage a family and a job without missing a beat. And she didn’t understand why she never figured out how to do it too. Her mother gave a great example of how. She led her house and had a career and taught Mac that she could do it all. But Mac can’t. And she didn’t want to let Will down anymore. She hoped that maybe this will force her to figure it out. She and Will will figure out some custody arrangement and she will make sure that Brandon is her priority the half a week she has him. She won’t let him down. She won’t. She will figure out how to do better for her son than she did for his father.

Mac wiped a tear from her eye and walked back to her desk. She had to look over the end of year budgets before her meeting with the board where she would have to defend it. As she looked over the papers that cluttered her desk, she put her head in her hand. She didn’t get into the news so she can learn how to read a budget. All she wants is to do the news. That’s all she’s ever wanted. And Will. And Brandon. How do other women do this? They can do the impossible, balance a career with a family. She just can’t find that balance.

She squeezed her eyes shut. She needed to focus. She has a meeting in a little bit; she has to get this done. She has to focus.

It seemed like minutes had passed when Mac looked down at the clock on her computer. 15 minutes before News Night gets in and then each hour another evening show will arrive. ACN morning has another hour and 15 minutes before it ends and then Patty will come up to go through their budget one more time before they both go to the meeting since the morning show has the biggest share of the monetary needs.

Mac tried to visualize what the board would ask and how she would answer, when she heard a knock at the door.

“Come on in Millie.”

“Hey, it’s me.”

Mac didn’t know why Will whispered, but his unexpected presence got her attention and she looked up. “Will?”

Will stepped inside and held out a bag. “You left your bagel in the toaster oven. I figured that meant you didn’t eat breakfast and since you have that budget meeting today, I didn’t want you to face them on an empty stomach.”

Mac blinked at him a few times while she tried to process what he said. She knew he didn’t say anything overly complicated, but switching from numbers to… breakfast?... yeah, that’s what he’s talking about… It took her a couple seconds. “Uh, thanks.” She looked up at him and saw him staring at her. “Yeah, I forgot to eat and –“

“You’re going to go home feeling nauseous if you face all that stress on an empty stomach. I know.”

“How did you know about the meeting?”

Will laughed. “You’ve been talking about it non-stop for the last month. And if I didn’t hear about it from you, Jim’s been second-guessing our budget requests. He hates making any requests because he thinks that you’ll be accused of giving preferential treatment to my show, so he tries to get Don to request anything we’ll share and then Don comes back saying he doesn’t want to be known as the expensive show.”

Mac smiled at him. “How did I miss that?”

“I told them to figure it out. I didn’t want you to have to sort through it. And they did. With a little negotiating by me and Sloane.”

Mac bit her bottom lip. “Then I guess I owe you a thank you.”

Will shook his head. “We’re partners, Mac. And you’re the most incredible –“

“Will, don’t.”

Will nodded his head. “I know. I’m sorry.” Will tried to figure out what to do with his hands. He should be standing behind her, rubbing her back, massaging her shoulders. But he stood a professional distance away, training his arms not to reach out and touch her. It felt unnatural. “Mac, uh. I, um, I don’t know how this is supposed to work. I mean us, this… arrangement. But, um, I still know you pretty well. And I know that you’ve probably committed those papers to memory and studied all the terms you don’t know and anticipated every question they could possibly asked and the answer you want to give.  So, um, if I can give you some advice. Put the papers down, run some water over your face. Take some time and relax. You got this Mac. I promise you do.”

Hearing the strain her breath, the one that told Will she was on the brink of tears gutted him. But she plugged forward and so did he. “I can’t, Will. I have to –“

Will took a step closer and said quieter so she had to lean and listen. “You got this. Now eat your breakfast, take a breath, wash your face because you look like you’ve been crying and then go nail this meeting.”

“I thought I was supposed to be the one to take care of you.”

“It should have always been us taking care of each other.” Will put Mac’s breakfast on her desk and turned around to leave.

\------------------

“Explain to me again why we need a flash mob? Karaoke is a stupid idea, but I at least understand it.”

Tess and Neal groaned at Jim. While Neal’s hand flew up in exasperation, Tess took a tone that sounded like she was explaining geometry to a small child. “We’ll come in from all directions and converge on them.”

Neal jumped in, “They’ll have to get closer and closer as we push them together.”

“They’re eyes will connect, because it’s going to be a love song.”

“And them BOOM! Magic!”

Jim jumped back when Neal jumped up with his hand extended over his head and kinda shimmied on “boom!”

“I just don’t see it.” Tess and Neal rolled their eyes and exhaled loudly. “Look I promised the kid that I was going to make sure their parents were back together. We gotta make sure this is perfect.”

Kendra stopped when she heard Jim as she walked past. “You didn’t say that. You stared at him like a stunned beast.”

“I didn’t. Okay, maybe I did. But I meant to. It’s his wish and I want to give it to him.”

“Not as much as Will wants to give it to Mac.” Martin looked around the bullpen when no one else laughed. “You know, wants to –“ He sat down after gesturing what he was thinking.

“Jim, you can’t stop them from trying what they want unless you have a better suggestion, and I haven’t heard a single idea come from you.”

“Kendra, I thought you would be the reasonable one that would stay out of all this non-sense. You were my last hope.”

Kendra looked at Jim like he was the biggest hypocrite in the world. “I think this is stupid idea too, and not just because we don’t have a choreographer for the this big number.”

Tess looked at Neal, “I thought Sloane was going to use her cheerleading experience to put something together.”

Kendra looked at Tess open mouthed. “Sloane was too busy being the smartest person in school to be a cheerleader. Have you ever gone clubbing with her, she’s fun, but she has the rhythm of… Jim!”

“Hey! I thought you were staying out of this!”

“We’d be better off getting Maggie back here. She does have some experience.”

This time Neal acted surprised. “She does?”

Jim nodded his head. “She doesn’t like to talk about it, but yeah. Her squad was nationally ranked.”

“Well, get her on the phone.”

“What do you mean get her on the phone? She works in DC and she doesn’t want her boyfriend the EP to bring her back here every other week.”

Tess said, “Sounds like he speaks from experience.”

“Certainly you can find a reason we really, really need her.” Begged Neal.

“Or you could just tell her Will and Mac need her help and she’ll be on the next flight.”

Jim looked at Kendra surprised. “Seriously, Kendra?” Jim reluctantly took out his phone. Before pressing the call button, he looked around him and said, “This is a stupid idea.”

As Jim walked off to talk to Maggie more privately, Kendra smiled, “and yet you’ll get to spend Christmas with your girlfriend.” She looked at the rest of the group and said, “And that’s how you get a couple together for Christmas.”

Before the group could ask for her real ideas, Jenna walked past Neal’s desk and quietly said, “Will’s here.” Immediately the group went back to their own desks.

Will distractedly walked into his office and closed the door. Before he could sit down, he walked back to his door and stuck his head out. “Sampat!” When he saw the panic on Neal’s face, he said, “My office, now.”

Neal arrived in the office and saw Will signal to close the door. He sat down uncomfortably. “Will.”

“What do you think you know?”

“A- A- About what?”

“Come on, Neal. Everytime I walk into the newsroom there’s a gagging group of women plotting something with you, and then everyone disperses the moment they see me. What do you think you know?”

“Well, it started with Tess and Jenna.”

“What’s the rumor going around?”

Neal looked like a deer caught in headlights. “You and Mac. You’ve been acting weird and, well,”

“You’re trying to find a way to get us back together.” Will considered his options. “How?”

Neal nodded his head. “Well we wanted to push you together with a flash mob and then force you to dance together with karaoke.”

Whatever Will was thinking ended as he squinted his eyes and cocked his head to a side. “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Maybe, but it’s getting Jim and Maggie together.”

“They broke up?”

“No, but she’s going to come down here and… well…”

Will shook his head. “I don’t care. You can go back to your desk.” Will watched Neal leave, wanting to feel ashamed at how scared the social media guy felt. After giving Neal a minute to get back to his desk, Will walked out of his office. In a loud voice he announced, “It has come to my attention that some of you have mistaken this part of the year for Valentine’s Day. I don’t know when you meet to figure out how to get me and my wife back together, but it ends now. All of us will meet daily for the hour after the morning rundown. If Mac attends one day, we will wait until she leaves the floor and then meet. Failure is not an option.”

With that, Will turned around and went back to his office, slamming the door. He poured himself a bourbon and lifted the glass. “That’s for you Charlie.”


	5. Four Calling Birds

**The Fourth Day of Christmas**

_I’ll have a blue, Christmas without you  
I’ll be so blue, just thinking, about you_

Will tiptoed out of bed and walked to Brandon’s room to check on him. As usual, his son lay sprawled on his bed looking at peaceful and content as a puppy laying on his back. Watching his son sleep made Will smile. He and Mac slept very guarded, they each slept on their sides with their arms tucked into their bodies like they thought someone would take something from them if they didn’t guard themselves. But here laid Brandon, arms and legs spread out without a care in the world. Will always thought it showed a type of success they had as parents. Anytime Will questioned whether he’d ever done anything right in his life, he could look at his son and know he did exactly two things right. The evidence of both lay like a starfish in front of him.

Will closed Brandon’s door and heard a noise coming from his room… the master bedroom. He looked around for a blunt object, but when he couldn’t find one, he quietly approached the bedroom and opened the door. There he saw Mac still asleep and his heart jumped. He took a deep breath and tried to think of what to do. He could wake her up. She’ll want to be up. If she finds out that he let her oversleep, she’ll kill him. But if she slept through her alarm, she needs the sleep. He’s seen it in her face for a couple weeks. And now that the budget talks are over, she should sleep. Besides, there’s only one way that he knows to wake her, and as pleasurable as that may be, he didn’t think she would appreciate it. Well, she’d appreciate it, but…. He can’t do it, not while they’re separated or whatever the fuck they are.

Will made a decision and closed the door. He walked into the kitchen and started breakfast. He used to make big breakfasts on the weekends when Mac could enjoy them. The three of them would sit at the table and plan their day. There wasn’t going to be a lot to plan today, but he could make sure she ate well. Bacon, eggs, waffles. He should call Millie and make sure Mac’s schedule gets changed. Get that off her plate. And he needs to call Jim because he’ll be late too. He really wants to be part of the planning discussion before Neal hires a Bigfoot with romantic notions to make an appearance at the Christmas party. He started putting a list together of things that needed to happen and then he realized that this must be what it’s like for Mac, 24/7. No wonder she’s exhausted all the time.

Brandon woke up before his mother, rubbing his eyes and carrying a blanket he insists he needs to sleep… even though it ends up on the floor next to him most nights. “Daddy? Is it Saturday already?”

Will picked up his son and brought him over to the counter. “Shhhhhhhh. We have to be quiet. Mommy’s sleeping.”

“But doesn’t she need to be at work?”

“She’s worked really hard, so we’re going to let her sleep a little longer, ok?”

“Okay Daddy. But Daddy?” Will matched the serious look on his son’s face.

“Yes.”

“If Mommy gets mad because she’s late, I’m going to blame you.”

Will tried to hide his smile. “Don’t worry, she’ll blame me too.”

Brandon was covered in batter when he looked over and saw Mac watching the McAvoy men. “Daddy, look. Mommy’s up.” He excitedly jumped off the counter leaving a trail of flour behind him and grabbed onto his mother’s legs. Mac leaned over and picked him up, giving him a good morning kiss.

“Mommy, look we’re making pancakes and it’s not even Saturday!”

“I know.”

Brandon looked at his parents and started to push away from Mac. When she put him down he ran to Will and grabbed his hand. “Okay Daddy, it’s your turn. Go kiss Mommy.”

Will shot a look at Mac trying to figure out what to say to their son. Mac said, “Not today, Brandon, Mommy needs to take a shower and go to work. She’s late.” She directed the last part at Will.

“But mommy! We’re pretending that it’s Saturday and Daddy always makes breakfast and kisses you on Saturday.”

This time Mac used her eyes to plead with Will. “Come here buddy. Let’s finish making breakfast so that it’s ready when your mom finishes her shower.”

“O-Kay.” Mac took that as her cue to leave the room. When Brandon saw his mother go, he turned to his father and asked, “Daddy? Why don’t you want to kiss Mommy anymore?”

Will picked up the 3-year old and mimicked Brandon’s serious face. “I think it’s time we had a man to man talk. Do you think you’re old enough for it?”

Brandon nodded his head confidently and said, “Yeah, Daddy. I’m 3. I’m old enough.”

Will made a show of considering his son’s words. “I think you are too. You see, Brandon, your mommy and daddy love each other very much. Just like we love you. But sometimes mommies and daddies don’t have to kiss each other to show their love. Sometimes it’s good enough for them to just know.”

“Well, I know that you and mommy love me and that I love you and mommy. Does that mean you’re going to stop kissing me?”

Will should have anticipated the question, but he didn’t, and now he really wished that didn’t banish Mac to the shower because she’d know how to answer. “No. We’re going to kiss you as long as you let us.” Will played with him like he was eating up his son, making Brandon squeal with delight.

When Mac got out of the shower, dressed for work, Will had three plates on the table and Brandon dressed for daycare. Mac started moving quickly to the door, when Will said, “Come on and eat with us.”

“I don’t have time Will, I should have been at work 3 hours ago, and now with traffic –“

“Your highly trained staff will have to figure out how to answer questions without you. I called Millie for you, you have time for breakfast and then we can go to the office together.”

Mac kept facing the door, so Will nudged Brandon, “Please, mommy! We made special pancakes just for you.”

Mac turned slowly towards Will and Brandon seeing the smug look on Will’s face. She looked Will in the eye. “You play dirty.”

“Sometimes it’s my only move.”

Mac put her phone on the table and Will took it, turning it off. When she shot him a look, he said, “One meal, Mac. You can turn it on when we go to work.” Mac reluctantly nodded her head.

When the car dropped them off at the ACN building, Mac asked Will if he could get Brandon to daycare, and Will said yes. She kissed her son goodbye and Brandon said, “Now daddy. I know that you don’t _have to_ kiss, but I like it when you do.”

Mac gave her son another kiss and hug and handed him off to his father, saying a quick, “I gotta go. I’m sorry. I gotta go.”

Will stood holding his son as they both watched her walk to the building. Will took a breath. “Come on, we’re all a little late.”

============

When Will entered the newsroom, he found more activity than usual. There was music going, and people moving rhythmically… are they dancing? And what the fuck is Sloan doing? She’s out of step with everyone. Maggie was counting to four at the top of her voice. Neal hung up the phone and gave a big “WOO!” He stood up on his desk and announced to everyone that he had hired dancing elves and a Santa. They’d have to make sure to introduce them to ACN Morning because they want to be on TV and the morning show is their best bet. Martin suggested that he had some connections at _Live with Kelly and Ryan_ too. Neal answered, “Even better.”

Will’s mouth hung nearly open when he found Jim sitting at a desk concentrating on something. Will tapped the EP on the shoulder. “What the fuck is this?”

“I thought someone should do some actual work today.”

“And speaking of, what the fuck is everyone else doing?”

“Party planning.”

Will looked horrified. “This is their plan to help me woo my Mrs.?”

Martin yelled across the room, “Maggie, since we have dancing elves, can each of them lead a group of us in the big number?”

Will put his hands on his head. “The last thing she wants is more noise.”

Kendra walked past and said, “Let them have fun. You’ll figure out how to woo her. We have faith in you.”

Jim looked at her. “We as in us? Or we as in them? Because I don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”

Will looked around the bullpen one more time and asked, “Don’t we have a rundown or something?”

“It’s a little early, but since you said planning after it, we can fudge a little.”

“Ah, fuck. What’s planning going to be like?”

Maggie and a few editors spun by with Maggie counting beats. “Hi 2.. 3..4 Will 2… 3… 4…”

Will yelled out, “Rundown everyone! And someone turn off that fucking noise!”

\--------------------

Mac hung up the phone, feeling a little proud of herself. It was a little early, but she had to leave now if she was going to get this accomplished. And she wanted to accomplish this. She grabbed her coat and hat and left her office asking Millie to call Will and ask if he can keep Brandon after daycare today. She’ll send a babysitter for show time. Millie agreed.

When Will got home with Brandon, Mac could tell he wasn’t happy. Brandon ran to his mother and told her about his day and how Aunt Maggie came back for the Christmas party and something about dancing elves (which he pronounced like Elvis) and he went on and on until Mac had him tucked into bed. Mac read him a story and Will watched from the living room. When Mac came out, Will went in to say goodnight and then closed the door.

After the door clicked closed, Will turned around to face his wife or ex-wife or whatever the fuck. “You don’t think you have time for me, that’s okay. I mean it’s not, but I guess we’re fixing that. But Brandon?”

“Don’t make it sound like I neglected him, Will. I left him with his father and a host of producers that I trust. I needed a couple hours… to… do something. It’s not a habit.”

“How many times have I heard that just before it became one?”

Mac turned her head toward the ceiling. “Well maybe –“

“Don’t you dare blame this on me making breakfast this morning. You almost skipped breakfast yesterday. And these long days aren’t healthy for you. And before you tell me that you won’t be my concern much longer, you better start to understand that I meant it when I said ‘til death do us part’. You didn’t give me a choice in any of this, but God damn it Mac, I’m going to still care about you after it.”

“I told you that I still love you too. I can’t imagine that’s going to change. We just…”

Will looked at her longingly. “You know, this is usually when I move to the couch next to you and put my arm around you, hoping to communicate that it will be alright. We’ll get through it.”

“And yet, you’re still standing over there.”

Will balled his hand in a fist as he held back tears. “Because I don’t know what you want. I don’t know what you’ll do if I move close to you. I don’t know what I’m allowed to do anymore. Tell me what you want. Tell me that you want me to sit next to you and to put my arm around you.”

Mac thought about what to say. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore, Will. I’m tired of letting everyone down.”

“Mac –“

“And if I let you convince me that everything will be okay, we’ll just perpetuate things until we hate each other and I don’t want to hate you.” She stopped to look at him before adding, “And I don’t want you to hate me.”

Will had so many thoughts, so many ways he could argue against what she said and what it meant. But he decided to take a different tack. “You didn’t answer my question. I asked what you wanted and you gave me the worst case scenario. Mac, please, tell me what you want.”

Mac felt tears well up in her eyes, part of her wanted to hide her vulnerability, but another part knew that she could trust Will with this. She looked up at him, letting him see the toll life took on her. “I want to stop feeling like this, like no matter what I do, I fail someone or something.”

Will made sure to keep eye contact with her. He needed her to understand every word he was about to say. “Mac, you have never failed or disappointed me. Not once.” Will stepped closer to her, considering whether or not he could put his hand on her shoulder. “You want to be perfect, you set that expectation, not us. If you take a second to look around, you’ll see that our son lights up when he sees you. And so does your husband. You’re everything we want.”

Will came slowly closer to her. She fought for just a little control and then turned towards him. “I’m so tired of being sorry all time. Go to bed, Will, please.”

Will walked around the couch and tapped on the arm as he passed it, “We can get through this.”

He went in his room and found a note on a comforter that’s been changed since this morning. He opened the note:

_Will –_

_I saw that you were walking a little strange today. I thought it was my turn to take care of you._

_\-- Mac_

Will smiled and laid down on a new mattress. For the first time in a long time he believed that they could get through this. It wouldn’t happen with dancing Elvises or whatever the fuck the team was putting together. But it would happen, because he knew Mac. She wants it to work as much as he does and she’s just as stubborn as he is when she wants something. They will get through this. They will.


	6. Five Golden Rings

**The Fifth Day of Christmas**

_Merry Christmas baby  
You sure do treat me right_

Mac woke up feeling like something was wrong. She rolled over to Will’s side of the bed to shake him awake. When she felt the cold sheet, she woke up fully, feeling an emptiness that she hadn’t felt since 2012. She picked up her phone to see how much more sleep she can get. 2:47. She has to be up in 13 minutes, she may as well get out of bed now. She walked out of her room and went towards Brandon’s room. She found the door slightly ajar. She thought back to last night and remembered very distinctly that Will closed the door before they talked. Will must have checked in on their son after she went to bed. Of course he did, somehow Will just took to fatherhood in a way that she didn’t expect. During the pregnancy he genuinely feared the kind of father he would be. Over and over she told him he’d be fine, besides, she’d be there to fix anything he does wrong. It was a joke, but they both expected Will to struggle and second guess himself. They agreed that her job was to fixes his messes. As long as that never changed, they’d be okay.

But Will never made a mess. When he cut the umbilical cord, Will fell in love. And when Will falls in love it’s never in parts. Will and Brandon were inseparable.   Mac actually had to put her foot down when Will wanted to have Brandon on the air with him the first week they went back to work. It wasn’t that Mac felt left out, she just didn’t enjoy it as much as Will did. When Brandon cried, she had to put work away and then find a way to focus on her responsibilities again. If Will was home, he’d get up and sing to him or play with him and Brandon would just respond to it. Will was the fun parent, he always had things he wanted to do with Brandon while Mac didn’t have any ideas. It just became easier to let Will take care of the baby because he was so good at it and Mac focused on work, the thing she could do well.

Mac pushed the door to her son’s room open a little more to look at him. He looked just like his father. Even asleep she could see the intelligence in him and the stubbornness. He is what Will was before he got disillusioned by life. She wondered if Will had ever been allowed to be as carefree as Brandon is. Will’s father let him down, and it destroyed him. She didn’t buy the idea that it somehow made Will the man that she loved. She thought that she would have loved Will even without the junk, the junk just made them both miserable. She couldn’t let her son down. She couldn’t. She didn’t want him to see his parents fight like Will watched. She played it over in her mind again, if they stayed together the marriage would simply deteriorate. She made her decision because it will end up benefiting Brandon. She can make sure that she’s there, really there with him if her time with him is limited. And Will, he’s already exceeded expectations and he will continue to be the best father in the world. She’s sure of it.

She turned from Brandon’s room, repeating in her head that this is best for everyone. She felt her watch vibrate, her VP for programming emailed. If he’s awake, he probably needs an answer and she shouldn’t make him wait if he’s working this late. Or maybe early. She looked at the door to the guest room. She wanted some evidence that Will had a better night sleep. It was all she could do for him. And maybe that meant neglecting Brandon like he said, but she wanted to do something for him. She wanted to find a way to thank him and say she was sorry because she never seems to have time to actually say it. They’ve been like ships passing in the night for months and there’s no end in sight. She wants to know if he slept better.

She’s determined to go to the door and check in on him before she checks her email. She can do that much for him. Or maybe for herself. She took a step towards the door when she felt her watch vibrate again. She checked it and it’s a message from her correspondent in England. That may mean breaking news. She should check, if it’s big enough, she’ll need to start calling EPs and anchors. Well, if she has to do that, at least she’ll get to talk to her husband. She looked down at her watch for a subject line, it’s not important. She continued walking to the guest room and just before she could push that door open, she heard her alarm go off. Fuck! She pushed the door open and found Will asleep on the new mattress. He looked comfortable. Maybe she projected, but she thought he also looked lonely.

She stepped just inside the door and watched him breathe. “I’m so sorry, Will. I tried, I just couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

Will started to stir and looked at her. “Mac? Honey, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, go back to sleep.”

Will smacked his lips a few times to wet them and said, “Okay” and rolled back over.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Will heard a door slam in the house, so he knew it was time to wake up. “Brandon? What are you slamming doors for?”

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I thought maybe Mommy was still here like last morning.”

“I see.” Will picked up the boy and held him close. “You really want to see Mommy, don’t you?” Brandon shook his head. “And I bet that she wants to see you too. So tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to get ready to leave as fast as we can and we’re going to pick up some breakfast and eat in Mommy’s office. How’s that sound?”

“That sounds GREAT!”

“Ok, then I’m going to pick out some clothes for you and you’re going to get dressed as fast as you can.”

“Yep! I bet I can get dressed faster than you!”

Will smiled at his son. “I bet you can’t.”

Will pulled out some clothes for Brandon and went back to get dressed himself. He called Millie and told her to cancel whatever Mac had at 8:30. Millie told him that she didn’t think she could. Will said, “she’s the fucking president of the company. If someone needs to see her, they’ll live with whatever time she can give.”

“She’s not going to be happy about it.”

“And her son won’t be happy to miss his mother. Find another time for that meeting.”

“Okay, Will.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“I thought I had something on my schedule at 8:30, but it’s gone. I’m going out for a little bit.”

“No, you can’t do that.”

Mac looked at her secretary. “Excuse me?”

“I mean, you know. Someone may stop by.” When Mac didn’t seem to understand what she meant, Millie continued. “Someone may want to bring you breakfast or something. Not that I would know, but maybe someone will want to do that.”

“I’ve been working 16 hour days for as long as I can remember. I don’t take off weekends because news doesn’t take the weekend off. I want to go get some breakfast from the dining room and move around a little bit, and you want me to stay here because someone MIGHT come by?”

Millie looked at Mac with pleading eyes, willing her to get it. “You’re right, you need a break. Go down to the dining room and just think about what I said. And try to be back in 15 minutes.”

Millie knew that Mac was a smart woman, and hoped that she would figure it out before Will and Brandon arrived. Will and Brandon arrived a little early, and Mac hadn’t gotten back yet. Will had several bags in his hands, so Millie opened the door for him while explaining what happened. Will nodded his head and gave Brandon a hash brown while texting Mac.

Mac meanwhile got some breakfast and decided to bring Will a muffin. She thought maybe they could talk or something. She knew there was no guarantee that he’d get in early enough to say more than a quick hi, but she hoped… She didn’t know what she hoped. She just wanted a chance. When she arrived in the News Night bullpen, she wasn’t entirely sure that’s where she was. Someone had apparently changed it into a winter wonderland overnight and decided to blare Christmas music over a sound system she didn’t realize they had. She looked around and found Gary. “What’s going on?”

“I have no idea. Between Neal being in charge of the Christmas party and Maggie being back in town and there’s Christmas cheer all around.”

“And Will has no problem with this?”

“I think I heard him say that he’s glad someone is enjoying the holiday.”

Mac looked surprised, “Well that doesn’t sound like him. You sure we’re talking about the same guy?”

“Well, you’re usually not down here, are you sure you’re you?”

“You know that made absolutely no sense.”

Gary nodded his head and walked off.

Jim walked out of his office a little surprised. “Mac, what are you doing here?”

“I thought I’d bring Will breakfast. He brought me some a couple days ago.” As she talked, she realized something. “But he usually eats at home with Brandon.”

Jim saw her face fall and she looked like she might fall apart. “Let’s go in my office.”

While Mac walked into Jim’s office, he turned around toward Kendra, whose desk is outside his office “Make sure rehearsal or whatever the fuck we’re calling it, is cancelled. Mac’s down here.” Kendra nodded her head.

Jim got back into his office and sat next to her. She looked at him and for the first time he saw how much life wore on her. Even in the Middle East he could see a flicker of passion, it’s the reason he kept following her. But now she looked completely exhausted.

“Is he okay? You probably get to talk to him more than I do.”

“He hasn’t said anything, but I think he’s worried about you. And, I’ve worked with him long enough to know that when you’re not okay, he’s not. And Mac, I hope it’s okay to say that you’re not okay.”

“I’m fine, I just need to get through today and I’ve got some work tomorrow and then everything will be fine.” Mac got up and took a deep breath. “I’m going to drop this off in his office. Can you tell him I came by?”

Jim nodded his head and walked her out. Mac took her key to his office and let herself in. Before putting her keys back in her pocket, she realized that eventually she will have to give the key back. She didn’t keep keys to all the anchor’s offices. She wrote a short note on the bag and started to leave. Before she could close Will’s office door, the elevator door opened and Will exited. Maggie, saw Mac for the first time since coming back to town, so she ran to the president and gave her hug, excited to see her friend, causing Jim to look confused. He looked around the newsroom and saw a few people watching, Neal signaled to Jim to look up. When Jim saw it and just shook his head. Once Will got to his office, Maggie moved away from Mac so she and Will could talk.

“Is this where you were?”

Mac looked at him surprised. “Yeah, I had some free time and thought I’d bring you some food. I left it on your desk. But I guess you probably already ate with Brandon.”

Will started laughing. “Yeah. We just ate breakfast in your office. I asked Millie to clear a half hour so we could eat together. Brandon wanted to see his mom.” He looked at Mac who couldn’t look him in the eye. He knew he should invite her in his office and close the door, but he didn’t. He knew that if he let her have a second to think she would realize she was missing work and he refused to ruin this moment. He positioned himself so that the team couldn’t see her, giving them the most privacy that he could. “And I wanted to see you too.”

Mac looked up at him, at the blue eyes that make her fall in love everyday that she allows herself to see them. “You did?”

“My god what have I ever done to make you not know the answer to that question? Of course I did. I always do.”

“Will, I, I –“ Before she could formulate what she wanted to say, her watch vibrated and her face contorted in a way that Will recognized.

“Ignore it, Mac and look at me please. Please.”

Slowly she put her arm behind her back so she wouldn’t be tempted to look at it and she looked up at Will. “I always want you with me, and that’s not going to change. And our son wants you with him, and that’s not going to change either. And I wanted to thank you for the mattress. And...” Will cut himself off when he realized something. “And when you had a free minute, you wanted to come here and have breakfast with me?”

“I – Yeah, I did. Because I haven’t been fair and I haven’t been—“

“Hey,” Will was aware of his hands and how they wanted to reach out and touch Mac, but he still felt a little afraid of how she would respond. He was aware of how much he wanted to dip his head and kiss her, let her know that they can get through this if she’ll let them. But he didn’t want to push. “You’ve been doing more than anyone should ever ask of anyone.”

Mac felt her wrist vibrate again and over Will’s shoulder, she saw the clock and knew that she had to get back to her office. She had never wanted to do something less than go to her office now, but she had to, she had to go. “I have to go, Will. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She wanted to bury her head in his chest, feel him embrace her and tell her it would be okay. But she knew she didn’t have time for it. As she pushed past him she saw the audience they attracted. She wasn’t a step past the threshold of his office when Sloane yelled, “Will, Mac” and pointed above their head. The pair looked up and saw mistletoe above them. Mac smiled and wet her lips, Will looked at her intensely. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek, well aware this was the only contact they had all week. He hated himself a little when he saw her deflate. But she squared her shoulders quickly so no one else could see it and left.

When Mac got on the elevator, he ripped the mistletoe off his doorframe and said, “Take these HR traps down.” The crew did as they were told and Will put his mistletoe in his pocket.

While the crew took down the rest of the mistletoe, Jim sidled up next to Kendra. “I wonder how that mistletoe got there.”

“What do you mean? I thought that Maggie put all of it up.”

“She did. But she was careful not to put one on Will’s door because she knew he’d take it down.”

Kendra looked innocent enough to Jim. “Hmmmm, maybe Neal or Tess thought she missed something and put it up.”

Jim smiled. “Yeah, maybe.”

Mac got on the phone for her weekly tech call with a new affiliate they’d picked up when her watch vibrated again. She wanted to ignore it, but it scrolled through. “When I kiss you again, and I intend to kiss you again, it’s going to be private, it’s going to be our choice and I’m not going to stop. Can we take Brandon to see Santa tomorrow?”


	7. Six Geese A Laying

**The Sixth Day of Christmas**

_I’m mister white Christmas_  
I’m mister snow  
I’m mister icicle  
I’m mister ten below

Brandon Charles McAvoy loved Saturday. He loved everything about it. It was the one day a week he always woke up before his parents, and if they didn’t lock the bedroom door he could run into their room and snuggle with them. And then Daddy would get out of bed and say it’s time for the men to make breakfast, so Daddy would pick him up and take him to the kitchen and make breakfast for Mommy. Then Mommy would tell them how great the breakfast tasted and they would plan to do something fun all day long.

So when Brandon woke up this morning, he jumped out of bed and quietly walked to Mommy and Daddy’s room and the door opened. He ran into the room and launched himself onto an empty bed. He looked around, confused. Where were his Mommy and Daddy?

“Mommy? Daddy?”

He went into the living and kept looking for them. He called again, this time he heard his mom’s office door open. When he saw his mom, he ran to her and leapt in her arms.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

“I—I, went to your room and you and Daddy weren’t there. Where’s Daddy?”

Mac kissed the top of her son’s head and said, “It’s okay. Daddy’s still asleep. He’s just... Let’s go get him.”

Mac carried Brandon to the guest room, she still couldn’t think of it as Will’s room, and knocked on the door. She slowly opened the door as she said, “Will, Brandon wants to see you.”

Will’s head poked up and he saw his wife and son in his doorway. He nodded his head, “yeah, send him in.”

Mac put him down and Brandon took her hand and started pulling her toward Will. “Why don’t you go snuggle with Daddy while I finish some work. Later, we can all go see Santa.” She looked at Will, “Together.”

“Yeah, come over here buddy.”

“But I want Mommy too.”

“Go on, Brandon, I gotta work.”

Brandon looked at his mom and stomped his foot. “NO! You always have to work. Come snuggle with me and Daddy, like we used to.”

Will watched the heartache on his wife’s face and said as gentle as he could. “No one’s world will end if they don’t get a response to an email this second.”

Mac slowly nodded her head, a motion Will saw, but Brandon didn’t. She took her watch off and put it on the dresser in the guest room and lay down putting her son between his parents. The three laid down and watched TV for a little bit. Will turned to his son during a commercial and said, “Why don’t us men go start breakfast and let Mommy do some more work?”

“And then we can go see Santa?”

Will looked at Mac who looked down. “After breakfast, I’ll take you outside and we can build the best snow fort in the neighborhood and then after lunch?” Mac nodded her head, “We can go see Santa.”

“That’s the funnest day ever!”

This was becoming Brandon’s most favorite day, and it’s not even 7AM.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Jim and Maggie were the first to arrive at flash mob rehearsal. As Jim opened the door he said, “You know we’re only doing this because Tess has always wanted to be part of a flash mob, don’t you?”

“And you know that I know that you’re only going along with this because you and Kendra are using us as a diversion?”

“We’re what?”

Maggie laughed at Jim’s look of complete confusion, until realization hit her. “Oh my God! This is actually the plan? You actually arranged to have me here for a week and a half so we can flash mob at Will and Mac?”

“When I called I told you that I was only offering because of peer pressure!”

“I thought you wanted me here!”

“I do!”

Maggie smacked Jim, “And that you had a real fucking plan! Why the hell would you put Neal in charge of something this important?”

Neal of course chose that moment to arrive. “Well, Mac asked me to organize the holiday party.”

“Ugh!” Maggie stormed off, leaving Jim and Neal dumbfounded.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Mac finished writing emails and looking at a report that she had a meeting about early Monday. She looked out the window at Will and Brandon who had built some sort of wall of snow that they cowered behind while some neighborhood kids threw snowballs at them. Will of course waited for the snowballs to cease and while the neighborhood kids reloaded, he and Brandon threw their weaponry. Mac looked at her computer, then outside and finally at the kitchen. She could start lunch, have it ready for when they came in and then they could go to the mall, see Santa, pick up some gifts, and probably eat dinner before coming home to put Brandon to bed. She looked out the window again and smiled. They looked like they were having so much fun.

She took her watch off again and put it next to her computer, then went to the closet and put on her winter coat, hat and gloves. She started in the backyard and packed as many snowballs as she could into two buckets, then crouched down as she carried them to her family’s fort. She came up from behind them, delivering one bucket next to Will and signaled him to stay quiet. She then positioned herself next to Brandon and put the second bucket between them. When Brandon saw his mom and started to yell her name, Will put his hand over the 3 year old’s mouth.

“This is what’s known as a surprise attack.” Mac looked at her men. “I don’t think they saw me, they’re still waiting for you two to fire. As long as their scared of that, they’ll stay down. So, Brandon, you need to throw snowballs at them. Will, you and I are going to take position behind those trees and give them all we got.”

“Should I throw one now, Mommy?”

Mac nodded her head and Brandon threw one with all his might. Seeing that it didn’t go far enough to distract the enemy, Will threw one that hit a 6 year old in the face.

“Good job son, that’ll keep them down for a little while.”

Mac counted out 5 snowballs to keep with Brandon and then looked at Will, “Ready?” Will gave her a single head nod and the McAvoy parents ran as fast as they could to trees that had a direct shot into the back of the neighbor’s snow wall and threw snowballs rapid fire at the kids behind it.

Unfortunately, they didn’t see that the Jones’ parents had watched Mac since she left the back yard. They didn’t have the artillery that Mac had put together, but they did surprise Will and Mac and snowballs flew everywhere and all adults and children were drenched at the end.

The McAvoys went home and dried off, each in their own bathroom. Will suggested stopping by a drive through for lunch so they could get to the mall quickly. After hitting several stores, the family went to a Chinese buffet that Will insisted served everything but Chinese food. Mac told him not to worry, what we call Chinese food is not what they actually eat in China. Will still acted grumpy that a place that calls themselves a Chinese buffet has hot dogs in it. To which Mac responded that he seemed to enjoy the steak he got with his meal.

When they got home, Brandon was completely exhausted, so Will and Mac put him to bed immediately and sat on opposite ends of the couch as they turned on the TV. They both stared at the TV, like two awkward teenagers on a first date. Will looked over at Mac first, hoping that maybe she would relax a little or look at him. He looked back at the TV and moved one of his hands from his lap to the couch cushion between them. Mac saw the motion from the corner of her eye, but when she looked at him, he was staring at the TV. She felt frustrated and she didn’t know why. She was about to put her hand in what she assumed was their Neutral Zone, when Bernard the Elf came on the screen, introducing himself to Tim Allen’s Santa. “Isn’t that the guy you always say reminds you of someone, but you can’t figure out who?”

Will looked at Mac, who looked at the TV and said, “Yeah. I just can’t place it.” He scooted a little closer to Mac.

Mac looked at Will and smirked when she noticed that he moved. “We don’t have to watch this if you don’t want.”

Will smiled at her. “It’s fine. It’s a mindless kids tale about believing in something that seems impossible to adults who have lost the ability to dream.”

Mac smiled at him. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

Will took another, this time deliberate, scoot towards his wife. “It means, that boy in there has one wish.”

“For a BB-8 that will roll around the house?”

Will smiled and shook his head. “Well, yeah, but that’s not his biggest wish. His wish is the same as mine. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same as yours.”

“And what does Santa think I want this Christmas.”

“How the fuck would I know what Santa thinks you want? What I know you want is more days like today. You want to find a way for us to stay together. And more than anything, you want to feel like you aren’t failing at everything.”

“Will, why couldn’t you just let this be a nice evening?”

Will looked at her seriously. “Because I don’t know if I’m going to get another chance at this.” He scooted closer to her, taking the hand closest to him from her lap. He started to lean in for a kiss.

“Mommy.”

“Fuck!”

“Will!”

“Is it really my bedtime?”

Mac took her hand from Will’s and stood up. “You looked tired when we got back.”

“But I can stay awake, right? I wanna watch the movie with you and Daddy.”

“Of course he does.”

Mac smiled at Will’s frustrated grumpiness that he didn’t express loud enough for Brandon to hear. “Sure honey. You can stay up for the rest of the movie.”

“And do you want some fucking milk and cookies too?”

Mac shot a look of warning at Will. “Milk and cookies?” Mac’s look got even more severe.

“I’ll go get them. Brandon, you sit down with Mommy.”

At the end of the movie, three empty glasses, the rest of the carton of milk and an empty plate of cookies sat in front of the McAvoy family. Brandon lay across the couch, his head in Will’s lap and feet in Mac’s. Will’s arms extended out, one along the arm of the couch, the other along the back with his hand hanging off it, instead of drawing circles on Mac’s shoulder. As Tim Allen’s Santa wished all a good night, Will picked up his son who insisted he wasn’t tired and took him to bed. When he went back to the living room, he saw Mac walking to her office.

“Mac, please come back here.”

Mac turned to look at him. “Will, I’m sorry. I just need to get a couple more things done before I go to bed.”

“If you want more days like today. If you want us to stay together, it can happen. But you gotta want it. I can’t want it enough for both us.”

“I can’t do it anymore, Will. I can’t keep failing him and you.”

“You haven’t failed anyone, but yourself. And today, today I don’t think you even did that. Mackenzie Morgan McHale has always been able to do anything she wants. Why don’t you want this?”

“I do, Will. I want it. But I can’t do it. Brandon was born and you became the most incredible father. You just knew how to do it. And I didn’t. Damn it, Will, I’m the mother. I was supposed to be the good parent and you were supposed to fumble through parenthood figuring it out.”

Will stood staring at her, not sure what to say. “Are you saying that you want to end all this because… you think I’m better at something than you are? Or that you want me to be… bad at fatherhood?”

“No, it’s… I’m not explaining myself well.”

“Then come over here and… please, sit down here and explain it to me.”

Mac looked between her office and her couch. She stayed where she stood, feeling paralyzed. She didn’t want to go to her office. She couldn’t stand the idea. But she had a nagging feeling that if she talked to Will he would convince her to try again and it would just set her up for more failure.

Will saw the internal war in her face and took it as a good sign that she didn’t run into her office. Some part of her wanted to stay and talk. If that’s all she could give, he’d take it. He slowly took first one step, then another and another until he was close enough to her to reach for her hand and play with her fingers. “Mac, please. Please talk to me. I watch you every day trying to be everything that everyone wants you to be, and I know that you can’t, but I don’t know how to help you. And maybe I can’t help you. Maybe I can’t go to your meetings and answer your emails, all I can do is try to lighten your burden here. And if that makes you feel like you’re failing me or me and Brandon. Oh my God, Mac, that’s not what I meant to do. All I wanted to do was lighten your load, be the father to him that you convinced me I can be, and that I can only be because of you. Please, Mac, tell me that you understand that.”

Will saw a tear roll down her cheek and he lifted his hand to wipe it away, forcing his body to stand completely in front of hers. He remained careful not to push too much, not to touch too much, he didn’t want her to withdraw.

“I’m his mother, Will. I’m not supposed to let him down this much. Or you. I’m good at my job, I’m not good at this.” Will didn’t know what to say, so he put his head down. “I’m sorry, Will. I need to go. To bed. I need to go to bed.”

She turned around and started towards her room. “You know Brandon doesn’t feel let down. He did for a little bit when he thought you were going to work through breakfast. But then you came out with the snowballs and the kid thought you were the greatest thing in the world. I wish you could see yourself through his eyes.”

Mac put her head down. “I’m sorry Will. It’s better to do this now before we hate each other.”

“Mac, I didn’t hate you before, I’m not going to hate you for this.”

“Good night, Will.”


	8. Seven Swans a Swimming

**The Seventh Day of Christmas**

_It's a marshmallow world in the winter_   
_When the snow comes to cover the ground_   
_It's time for play, it's a whipped cream day_   
_I wait for it the whole year round._

The phone rang and she rolled over to answer it. “Kendra! Kendra!”

“Jim? What happened? It’s 3:30AM. Do we need to get on the air?”

“What? No, nothing like that. We need to come up with a new plan to get Will and Mac to—“

Jim heard the phone go dead when Kendra hung up on him. Damn it. She obviously has never had to report directly to Will or Mac. He swore neither of them slept. He thought when they got together the late night calls would stop, instead they had conference calls with the two of them sharing a speaker phone and he didn’t want to think about where they were or what they did before or after. Though he did have a feeling that hearing Will talk news was like foreplay for Mac.

Jim had a problem to figure out. He convinced Maggie that of course there’s another plan, but now he has to come up with one with Kendra. He’ll try Kendra again in a few hours.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Mac had jeans and a Nebraska sweatshirt on and tried to decide if making a trip to work was worth the effort. She probably only needs to get 2-3 hours of work done and that’s almost enough time to finish before anyone in her house wakes up. But if she goes over or she just doesn’t want to deal with Will and Brandon pressuring her… What the fuck does that even mean? They’re her husband and son, not the mortal enemy of the work she has to finish. And it’s Sunday morning, she shouldn’t be working on Sunday morning. Even if she didn’t get everything done yesterday, she shouldn’t have worked then either. She has a responsibility to her job, but… she has a responsibility here too. Brandon wakes up at 6. She has two and a half hours and then when Brandon wakes up, she’s determined to stop and make breakfast with him, just like Will does. She can do that. Two and a half hours. She can get most of her work done in two and a half hours.

First though, she wanted to check on Brandon. When she poked her head in his room, she couldn’t help smiling at the boy. He reminded her so much of his father. Will was right. She didn’t want to give this up. But she didn’t know how to fight for it. The best she could do was make a plan to spend the morning with Brandon and any work left can get done after he goes to sleep. She can do that. She doesn’t know what will happen Monday, but she can do that today.

5:45 and Mac finished the last review that she thought she could before Brandon woke up. She went into the kitchen and looked for a muffin mix that she thought she saw a couple days ago. She pulled it out and pre-heated the oven. She didn’t want to start mixing since Will usually lets Brandon help with that, Brandon would want to do that. So, she left the mixing for him. She took inventory of their breakfast foods. They’ve done a little more breakfast making this week than usual so she wanted to make sure they didn’t miss anything. They had 3 eggs for Will, 2 for her and 1 for Brandon. Will would want some bacon and Brandon would take a piece from his plate. Since Mac was going to have some eggs, she only needed a yogurt and a banana to go with it. She made sure everything they needed lay out on the counter. She and Brandon can make breakfast quickly and serve it to Will in bed. She’ll sell it as “Breakfast in Bed for Daddy”. Brandon will love it. And Will will know that she’s trying. She wants to find the balance. She hopes that this is it.

She had everything out at 5:47. Now she had to wait for Brandon to wake up. At 5:48 she started thinking of things that they could do today. If they wear out Brandon then she can finish the last of her work before going to bed. It would be a balanced day. And maybe something to build on. One day at a time, she just has to start somewhere and maybe if she can pull a few balanced days together, then… she can’t get ahead of herself. Start with breakfast. She just has to wait for Brandon and put it together.

It was 6:05 when Brandon came out of his room. He started going to her room, when he saw the light on in the kitchen and she called for him.

“Mommy!”

“Come here sweetheart!”

Brandon ran to his mother. “Is daddy still sleeping?”

“Yes, but I thought we could make him breakfast.”

“Like we make for you?”

Mac smiled, “Yes!”

“Okay, well, daddy always makes pancakes. Can we make pancakes?”

“Actually, I thought we could make muffins for Daddy. I know he likes blueberry muffins a lot.”

Brandon considered this. It was different. “But I don’t know how to make muffins, just pancakes.”

“I can show you.” Mac picked up Brandon and put him on the counter. “Here’s the mix, it says, put mix in a big bowl.” Mac showed him the big bowl that was already out, “and add ¾ cup milk. Or we can use yogurt.”

“Yeah, lets use yogurt!”

“Well, I already have the milk out and measured, so let’s just use that.”

Mac could tell that her son didn’t like this idea, but he agreed to it reluctantly.   He was happier when she told him he could stir, but when she put her hand over his to make sure that it got mixed well, he fought her a little. She realized that Will usually stirred the batter first and let Brandon finish for him. So, she offered to stir first and let him finish before they made the eggs and bacon. This didn’t go over well because Will never put Brandon on the counter until after he’d already made the batter.

The crying that ensued woke Will up and got him out of bed. Brandon exclaimed to Will that he’s not allowed out of bed yet because they’re making him breakfast. Will looked at Mac for guidance and she said it was okay, he could go back to bed. He agreed, but said he’d be around if they wanted help. Mac took out mixer to mix the muffin batter and then let Brandon finish stirring while she made 6 eggs. Brandon objected to how she made the eggs because Will always made Brandon’s first so they could cool off, then Will’s and finally Mac’s so they’d be warmest. Mac intended to make all the eggs at once. And when she made the bacon, Brandon reached over at the wrong time and had a drop of grease hit his arm causing him to cry in hysterics. Mac immediately treated that, but forgot about what was cooking on the stove. Will got out of bed when the fire alarm went off. He had the three sit down to breakfast and thanked Mac and Brandon for such a great meal. However, when Brandon tried the bacon from Will’s plate, he let it be known that it was burnt.

Will asked Mac if she had any ideas for what they could do today and she looked at him. He gave her an encouraging look. “I wondered if we could go to the city and hang out in Central Park. It’s really pretty there.”

Will turned to his son, “What do you think, Brandon? Central Park?”

“Yeah, that sounds like fun, Daddy.”

“Why don’t you go to your room and start getting dressed?”

“Okay.”

Brandon jumped down from his chair and ran to his room. Will started laughing.

“What are you laughing at?”

He stared at Mac smiling. “Do you know how many disasters like that I had before I figured out how to make breakfast with him? I never set off the fire alarm, that was new, but I did think I burned him bad enough to take him to the ER once.”

“You did? How did I miss that?”

“I lied.” Will laughed again. “I wasn’t going to admit to you that I may have burned our year old son until I knew I had to. You were so good with him and I thought I broke him. He stopped crying before you got out of the shower, so I kept checking his arm all day until I was convinced he wasn’t going to spontaneously burst into flames.”

Mac watched Will laugh and looked at him suspiciously. “You’re just making that up to make me feel better.”

Will got serious again. “I was terrified of him for the first year or so.”

“You loved him, from the first moment you saw him.”

“That too, but I was terrified that I would do something wrong and damage him without intending to. I don’t think any parent ever intends to hurt their kid, but they don’t know what’s going to leave a mark. Habib told me once that he’s durable and that the only way I’m going to hurt him is if I let the fear of him stop me from knowing him.”

“And I suppose that goes for all relationships?”

Will shrugged his shoulders. “Can’t hurt.” He got up and started to walk away from the table. “Do you mind if I go in and get my clothes first?”

“Yeah, go ahead, I should clean up.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“Hello?”

“Uh, Calvin?”

“Yes, this is Calvin, who the fuck is this?”

“Jim Harper, I’m New Night’s Executive Producer.”

“I know who you is. Why you calling my wife at 7 in the morning? She knows she needs to talk to you. She’ll call you when she wake up.”

Jim heard the phone click again and wondered what would happen if he hung up on Will or Mac when they had their middle of the night brainstorms. It may not be a bad idea.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Will stayed in the master bedroom after getting dressed and watched the kitchen where Mac was still cleaning. He knew he should have offered to clean for her, but he knew their son and he had a feeling that he should just watch for a few minutes. It didn’t take long before Brandon ran out of his room and stood in the middle of the living room spinning around looking for an adult. Finally he saw his mom.

“Mommy! I can help.”

“I bet you can.” She picked him up and he immediately took a sponge and started moving it around on the counter. Mac smiled at her toddler and put her hand over Brandon’s and guided him in cleaning the counter. When she swept the floor, he held the dustpan. After they were just about finished, Will walked out of the bedroom and Brandon ran to him.

“Daddy! Mommy let me help her clean the kitchen. Didn’t I do a good job?”

Will looked around as if looking for a speck of dirt out of place. He held his son closer and looked at Mac when he said, “I think you and Mommy did a great job. Now I think Mommy needs to get dressed so we can go into the city for the day.”

“Yeah Mommy, you need to get dressed.”

Mac gave Will a look to let him know she’d been had, but squeezed his arm and said a very quiet, “Thank you.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“Jim?”

“Kendra. Hi.”

Even though Kendra was on the phone, she looked around. “Why are you whispering?”

“Maggie’s awake and I don’t want her to know I had to call you.”

“Is that why you called at 3 and at 7 and woke up my whole house? To keep something from Maggie?”

“She asked me what our real plan for Will and Mac is and first I told her I didn’t know what she meant, because I didn’t. Then I realized that we should have one, so I told her of course there was one. And she stopped hitting me. “

Kendra nodded her head and rolled her eyes. “Now you need a plan.”

“Right. Hopefully one that doesn’t include dancing elves or flash mobs for no reason.”

“Are you sure we’re going to need to interfere? Sometimes people just need to figure out how to get through things.”

Jim thought about it and said, “I agree, but if we don’t have a backup plan for Will and Mac, we’ll need to figure out a plan for me and Maggie and I don’t trust Tess to choreograph a flash mob at us.”

Kendra laughed. And then hung up the phone.

“Kendra? Kendra?” Jim looked at his phone. “Fuck!”

“Jim, honey, are you okay? You’ve been in the bathroom a long time?”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

The McAvoy’s arrived home and once again put Brandon to bed immediately. Mac read him a bedtime story with Will sitting next to her. When they each took a turn giving him a kiss goodnight, they left his room. Will went straight to the couch and saw Mac move towards their… her room.

“You don’t have to go to bed too, you know?”

“I know, but I need to get a few things done before bed and all my stuff is in… there.”

“I thought you weren’t going to bring work in there, keep that a work free zone.”

Mac looked guilty, “I didn’t want to, but I didn’t want Brandon to wake up again and not know where we were and I wanted to surprise you with breakfast, so I thought I could catch him if I worked in there. But it was unnecessary because I got to a stopping point before he woke up.”

Will nodded his head. “I understand.” He looked at her, not wanting her to move away from him yet. If she went to work now, it might be another week before he got to see her and talk to her and they’d made some progress these last couple days. He didn’t want that to stall. “Come sit with me, just for a few minutes.”

Mac felt torn. She didn’t want this day to end, they had a good day. She wondered for a second what would happen if she didn’t finish work, but decided that wasn’t an option. “I’ve only got a half hour, maybe an hour of work left. Will you still be out here when I’m done?”

Will’s gaze never left her eyes. “Are you asking me to wait for you? Because I will if you’re promising to come back.”

“Give me an hour, Will, and I’ll be out here.”

Will nodded his head and she went first to her room to get her computer and set it back up in the office. 45 minutes later, she left her office and walked to the couch, sitting next to Will. Will felt her presence. The didn’t touch, there was a little space between them, just like there had been all day, but he could feel how close she sat to him.

“It’s about prioritizing. Figuring out what’s important and focusing on that.” Will looked at her, turning towards her while she looked straight ahead. “That’s what I tried to do today, and the last few days. I tried to decide what time I would give to work and give everything else to you and Brandon.”

“And it worked, right? You had a good time with us and you got your work done.”

“I missed having breakfast with you Friday because I decided that was the one time I wouldn’t check my messages.”

“You also ignored whatever came in while we were under that mistletoe.”

“I made you cover for me when I worked instead of playing with Brandon.”

“And then you came out and made his day by bringing us 2 buckets of snowballs.”

“I burned our son and ruined breakfast.”

“No body starved today and he doesn’t have a boo boo.”

Mac looked up. “I don’t know if I can keep on like this. It’s a lot of work, Will and it’s so much easier to just do job at ACN.”

Without thinking about it, Will took her hand, and weaved their fingers together. “It’s about making one choice and then another and then another. And each time you make a choice, it makes the next one easier. And if you make a wrong choice, you get another choice later.”

Mac bit her bottom lip. She wanted him to be right. He’s been right so much this week, she hoped that maybe he was again. “What happens tomorrow when I have to go to work? Do I have to stay here and go to work with you and Brandon?”

“Not if you need to be at the office. If you need to be there, and only you know if you do, you go in and you let me know if there’s a half hour that Brandon and I can come by for breakfast. And if not, then we find another time. We can make it work, if you want it to, Mac. We can get through this.”

Mac still couldn’t look at him, but she nodded her head. She squeezed his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. Will took his hand from hers and put his arm around her. Moving her hair from her face.

“What are we watching?”

Will shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea.”

The duo sat in silence. On the TV, Clearance said, “Strange isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”


	9. Eight Maids a Milking

**The Eighth Day of Christmas**

_Grandma got run over by a reindeer_  
_Walking home from our house, Christmas Eve_  
 _You may say there's no such thing as Santa_  
 _But as for me and grandpa, we believe_

Kendra tapped Maggie on the shoulder and took her to Will’s office before the first rundown meeting of the day.

“We need to talk about the Christmas party. Jim and I have been working on a plan and I think it’s time we let the two of you in on it.”

Will immediately exhaled, “Oh thank God.”

“Really? When he told me you had been I thought he just wanted me to stop bugging him about it.” Maggie laughed.

“Yeah, he mentioned that. I wanted him to come in here too, but he was on the phone and I don’t think this can wait another minute.”

Will tried to hide the smile that wanted to erupt on his face. Kendra stopped looking at him for fear of being caught. “Maggie you need to keep doing what you’re doing. We’re expecting that someone is going to let Mac know about the karaoke and flash mob plan, so we have to make sure anyone she interrogates will only be able to talk about that.”

“Right, so no blabbing to Martin.”

“Among others, yes. But while the party is going on in the cafeteria, Mac’s going to get a call to go to her office, which we know she won’t be able to resist. While she’s distracted up there, Will, you’ll go to the executive dining room and she’ll get ushered there by me and Jim. You two will have a nice dinner, alone, while the party is going. When dinner is over, you have to bring her downstairs to make an appearance, but then you have the rest of the night. We’ll have a babysitter set up for Brandon so you can do whatever you want until the morning.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet. And Jim helped you figure that out?”

Kendra accidentally looked at Will and almost lost her straight face. “He was… invaluable.”

Will went back to his days as a prosecutor when he had to keep a poker face while witnesses said the most obvious lies. “So all I have to do is get her here, make sure she answers the phone in her office and then go to the executive dining room?”

“That’s it. We’ll take care of the rest.”

“Okay. If we’re done with Maggie, can I have you for a couple minutes?”

“Sure!”

Once Maggie left and had time to walk a couple steps away, Will and Kendra started laughing. “So when are you going to tell Jim about his plan?”

“He would know about it now if he didn’t wake me up and 3:30 AM.”

“Some people can be so rude.”

Kendra smiled. “So you’re in a better mood. Things going better with Mac?”

“I think so.”

“Can I ask a favor?”

Will shrugged his shoulders. “You can always ask. I’ll only say it’s stupid if it is.”

“Don’t let them know that things are better. They’re having fun planning whatever their doing. Let them think that they’re doing something to make something better.”

“So act miserable for the team?”

Kendra smiled, “Go back to being the endearing asshole for the team, yeah.”

Will laughed. “Get back to work.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Mac couldn’t give Will a half hour for breakfast, but did clear a half hour for him at lunch. She didn’t want to rush, but she felt the pressure of needing to be back at work. It made Will feel like he was on a speed date with his wife, but he reminded himself that she was trying and that’s all he could ask of her. Before she went back to work, she said she’d get Brandon and they could pick him up for dinner together. She might have a meeting on the way home, but she’d try to get out of it.

Will said, “Can you bring Brandon by then take him upstairs and we can eat in your office?”

“What?”

“Apparently the staff is really excited about trying to get us together and if they know we’re… sharing meals… it’s going to deflate them or something.”

Mac looked at him like he was the dumbest person on earth. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Last week we did a great job of showing them how awkward we are around each other. They thought they would try to put us back together by… it doesn’t matter. We’re starting to make some progress,” Will stopped to look at her and started to feel unsure because of her look of confusion. “At least I think we are. I mean, we’re not, I’m still in the, guest room, so I guess we’re not completely back together. But we’re talking and eating and… I don’t know I thought that meant something. Or am I completely off base here?”

Mac looked confused and then smiled. “We’re trying. It’s like what you said, one decision and then another. But I want to see how this goes before I commit to anything.”

“You already committed to me, Mac. Remember that ceremony at the court house with our staff?” He hoped he sounded casual, but something inside him snapped.  It hurt. Even after everything that happened this weekend, she was considering her options. Like he and Brandon were the most disposable things in her life.  And they should be the least.  And he felt like he had to tell her that, even if she didn't like it.  

“And then I got this job and I had a baby and... I can’t keep failing. I need to know that I can do it all.”

Will exhaled loudly in frustration as he tried to find the right words to say to her. “You can’t. No one on earth can do everything that you’re trying to do. This job by itself is probably too big for one person, especially a person who doesn’t want to delegate.  And as brilliant as you are, you can’t seem to figure out how to do that. And then when you add being a wife and a mother… I hyperventilate thinking about it. So you have to prioritize and figure out what’s important. Do you want to be the greatest network president that’s ever lived? Or do want to be a very good one that has a family to come home to?”

“Will. What are you saying?”

Will closed his eyes. He didn’t want to say this, but he’d gone too far, he had to say it. “I’m saying that I love you, Mackenzie, that won’t change. Under any circumstances, that won't change. But you’re either all in or you’re not. You’re either going to work with me and between the two of us figure out how to make it through this... our life, or you’re going to choose to try to do it alone. This is our family, it’s not the disposable part of your life. You can’t be wishy washy and jerk us around while you figure out what you think you can do. I know you Mac. You can do anything you set your mind to. I just hope that you set your mind to us.”

Will stood up and walked out. He’d hoped she would stop him. But she didn’t. Now all he could do was go back to his office and hope that he didn’t just throw away the best thing in his life.

Mac watched him leave, stunned. Of course he was right. She knew what she was supposed to say, the answer was obvious. She wanted her family. But she didn’t know if she could live with never feeling like she could do anything right. Mac finished her lunch and went back to her office. She had back-to-back meetings that would occupy her before she had to think about Will and what he said again.  And damn it, she hated admitting to herself that she liked having the reprieve.

At 5:00, Will stood in his office, waiting for Mac. He wanted to see if she was going to avoid him again. She hadn’t texted yet to either ask him to pick up Brandon or to say she wouldn’t be able to stop by before going home or back to her office. That was a good sign.  IF she wasn't goingto stop by, she would have told him no matter what.  He saw the elevator door open and out of it walked Mac and Brandon. He intercepted them and picked up his son before they could get to the bullpen. When they got closer to the desks, he said, “Why don’t you go with Aunt Maggie for a little while. I want to talk to Mommy.”

“Okay, Daddy!”

Brandon toddled over to Maggie’s desk and Will signaled for Mac to come into his office and closed his door.

“Look, Will, I know what you’re going to say.”

Will looked surprised. “You do? Well then can you tell me, because I’ve been sitting here since lunch talking myself into taking back everything I said and then reminding myself that I was absolutely right.”

Mac's first instinct was to make a crack about his immense ego, but she decided against it.  “You were right, Will. You’re not disposable in my life and neither is Brandon. And it’s not fair of me to even think for a second that somehow my job is more important than either of you.”

“You say that like there’s a but coming.”

“I don’t know how to do it anymore. It’s easier to be a president than a mother. And it scares me. I don’t know how to make you a priority anymore. I don’t know how to do any of this, Will. I don’t know how to salvage this. I don’t know, I don’t know how.”

Will watched his wife fall apart and ran around his desk to get to her side. He put his arm around her and held her close to his chest, stroking her arm.

“We start by starting. We start by giving ourselves permission to fuck things up, because we will. But mostly we start by trusting in us and trusting each other."  Will turned her so she had to look at him.  "Do you trust me?"

Mac nodded her head. “Yes, I trust you.  I just --”

"No, Mac.  One step at a time.  I trust that we're going to find a way to find a good balance.  I trust you to let me help you do that.  And if you trust me..."

"I trust you, Will."

"That's all I ask from you right now. We’re gonna get through this. You gotta trust me, we’re gonna get through this.”


	10. Nine Ladies Dancing

**The Ninth Day of Christmas**

_You better watch out, you better not cry_   
_Better not pout, I'm telling you why_

“Maggie, I really don’t think we need to do this. Do you really want to get into another couple’s business? Would you want them trying to help us if we were in trouble?”

Maggie smiled and kissed Jim on the cheek. “First of all, I look up to Mac, so I would love to hear any advice she gives. Second, I know what you and Kendra have planned, so you don’t have to pretend there’s not another plan in place. I’m doing my part to keep everyone else distracted.”

Jim did the only thing he could while the elevator door opened – he smiled, nodded and took the mental note to talk to Kendra first chance he got.

Maggie got off the elevator and immediately went to Neal and got to work. “Okay. We all know what we saw yesterday, so we don’t have to rehash how they left or how upset Mac looked when she left with Brandon. But what we have to do is re-double our efforts to make this a romantic night for them.”

Neal took over the meeting. “So we’re going to make a switch. I’ve got a meeting with Mac later today about the final arrangements for the party. Will told us that she knows to expect dancing Elvises and a raucous time because of things Brandon’s told her, so we have to keep that up. We’re still going to practice the big number, but, that’ll be part of the party after the McAvoys leave.”

Maggie started talking again. “For the time that they are with us, we’re going to have a band made up of people here that are going to set a more intimate mood. Jim can play guitar and can sing, Gary will be on drums, and Jenna will can play keyboard. We’re going to set a romantic mood for them.”

“So band members, you’re going to rehearse after the broadcast in ACN Morning’s studio. The rest of us will work with Maggie after first rundown.”

“Everyone okay with that?”

Tess asked, “But we’re still getting the dancing elves and doing a flash mob, right?”

Neal answered, “Yes, those will be out after they leave.”

Jim yelled, “I didn’t volunteer to be part of a band.”

“Sorry honey, it was the only way.” Maggie started walking towards him as the rest of the team dispersed. When she got close enough to whisper to him, she said, “besides, with your and Kendra’s plan, it’s only going to be 2 to 3 songs.” She then raised her voice again, “And everyone, remember not to say anything at all to Will. As far as he’s concerned we’re doing dancing elves.”

Jim felt a little dizzy. He really needs to talk to Kendra.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Will got out of bed and found Mac in the kitchen making breakfast. “What a wonderful surprise.”

“I thought I could work from here for a couple hours and have breakfast with you and then ride into work with you. I might have to take some calls on the ride over, but I think I can make it work. And then if we do lunch together and dinner with Brandon –“

“Mac, what are you doing?”

“I’m figuring out how to get everything done. Working and spending time with you and Brandon. I think I can do this.”

“Mac, put the spatula down.”

“Can I flip the pancakes first? They really need to be flipped.”

Will put his head down and shook it. “I don’t give a shit about the pancakes. Didn’t we just talk yesterday about figuring this out together?”

“We did, and this is how we do that!”

“What? We figure out how to do this together by you making the decision to multitask your family time?” Will saw the disappointment in Mac’s face. “I mean, I like that you’re trying. I can see what you want to do. But this isn’t the way to do it.”

“So what do we do, sit down and draw up a schedule? My schedule doesn’t always work like that.”

“Don’t make me a checkbox on your to do list. That’s all I’m saying, honey.”

“I didn’t want to do that. I just thought.”

Will put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. When he felt like he could, he loosened his hold and said, “You know what, let’s try this again.”

“What?”

“Good morning, Mac. You’re making pancakes?”

Mac nodded her head as she decided to play along. “I thought Brandon might like some and I found a way to have breakfast with you.”

Will looked her in the eye. “Thank you. We’ve missed you at breakfast.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

“What if today you picked up Brandon and took him to your office and I’ll meet you there for dinner. I can get some sandwiches or something just to hold us over and then maybe when I get home we can have a kind of date? It’ll be here, but, just the two of us. Can we do that?”

Mac thought about it for a second. She had her to do list running through her head, including adjusting for the unforeseen things that always seem to happen, especially when she makes plans. She put her hands in his and nodded her head. “Yeah, we can do that. Yes.”

Will smiled. “Good. Because I’ve missed you and –“

Before Will knew what was happening, Mac stood on her tiptoes and quieted him with a quick kiss. He responded by smiling at her. She gave him an expectant look and he said, “I promised you before that when I kissed you again I wasn’t going to stop. I figure we have about 2 minutes before that son of ours gets out of bed. That’s not nearly enough time.”

Mac grabbed the back of his head and kissed him again. “Glad I didn’t make a stupid promise like that.”

“It wasn’t stupid, it was romantic and perfect for the moment.”

“Eh, it was okay.” Mac laughed and so did Will.

Will got serious again and rubbed her arms. “So we’ll have breakfast since you made time for that and we’ll do dinner after work. It sounds like a good plan.”

As Will walked away from her, she opened her mouth in shock. “Where are you going?”

“Brandon will be up any second and we can’t let him tell anyone that things are anything but tense right now.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Will rolled his eyes. If he didn’t think the team’s plan, now plans, were stupid before, he really regretted them now. “The plan. I told you before, they want to have a chance to get us together, so…”

“I have to keep treating you like you’re an ass. That actually won’t be that hard.”

Will gave her a look. “It’s for them. They’re like family and they want to make us happy.”

“By making us continue to be miserable this week?”

“It’s just while we’re at work and we still have to have some serious conversations Mrs. Homemaker. But just to be clear, we are back together, right?”

“Well it sounds like we can’t sleep in the same bed until the party. But I think it’s safe to say we’re both committed to finding a way to make this work.”

Will wasn’t sure when he lost control of this conversation. “Wait, wait, wait. Why can’t I go back to our bed?”

“Well, we don’t want Brandon to spill a secret, do we?”

“Ah, fuck!”

Mac smiled. “We will eventually, I’m sure.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Brandon fell asleep during Will’s show, so Mac put him to bed and went to her office to finish up a couple things. She had on her calendar to stop what ever she was doing at 9:45. When she did stop, she went to their room, she was so glad to call it their room again, she went to their room and found a favorite dress for their date. She wanted this to be special. Before she could start getting changed, she heard the delivery people Will arranged with their dinner. She let them in before they could ring the doorbell and wake Brandon. Within a few minutes the table was set and the delivery people left with a healthy tip. When Will arrived home, he found Mac dressed up, with her hair in an up do that he always loved waiting for him. He took his place at the table and stared at her.

“What do you think the chances are that Brandon’s going to interrupt?”

“Not good at all. I put a little whiskey in his milk.”

Will looked at his wife with wide eyes until she started laughing. “Well as long as you took care of it.”

“So you never told me what the team is planning.”

Will shook his head. “I wish I didn’t know.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. Bad music and flash mobs or something.”

“But certainly Kendra or Jim or someone has a better idea.”

Will thought for a second. He knew the answer to the question, but he wanted to let there be a surprise. “You would think so, wouldn’t you? But the team really bought into this idea of dancing elves coming at us to force us together.” He took her hand from across the table. “I guess they thought that a simple touch and a little eye contact would be all it would take to put the magic back.”

Mac looked at Will and smiled. “It might be. I mean, there’s things –“

Will stood up and moved around the table. “I think they’re right. I spent the first year you were back careful not to touch you, even casually for that reason.”

Mac laughed. “Oh, come on, you barely made it to Valentine’s Day.”

“Deep Water Horizon went down in April. That’s damn close to a year and that year was fucking torture.” He took her other hand and helped her stand up. “It’s been a week and a half since I’ve had you this close and I can barely stand it.”

“Does that mean that you’re finally going to deliver on your promise?”

Will had a hand on her head with his thumb caressing her cheek. “What promise is that?”

“That you were going to kiss me again and not stop?”

“Oh, God yes.”

Will leaned in and kissed her slowly. His tongue eventually requested entrance to her mouth, which she gave eagerly. He reached behind her to unzip her dress and she took a step back. “Will, we gotta stop.” Will couldn’t say anything, he was completely dumbfounded. “Just think how the team will feel if we wake up together tomorrow and Brandon sees and reports back to them.”

“He doesn’t have to see. Or we can keep him from there.”

“Besides, I don’t sleep with a guy on a first date.”

Mac slipped away from him and went to her room.

“What first date? I’ve been dating you since 2006!” He heard her door close. “Minus a few years in the middle.”


	11. Ten Lord's a Leaping

**The Tenth Day of Christmas**

_I cannot remember the worst December_   
_Just watch the icicles form_   
_What do I care if icicles form_   
_I've got my love to keep me warm_

Will got out of bed and looked around the house hoping to see his wife.  He knew it wasn’t necessary that she have breakfast with them, and fuck, he more or less discouraged her yesterday from staying home.  But he still hoped.  When he didn’t find her in the house, he started his morning rituals that centered on getting himself ready for work before Brandon got up and took all his time. 

Once at ACN, Will took Brandon up to Mac’s office with some left overs he held back.  He knew that she probably had a full morning and that’s why she went to work early, but he wanted to see her if possible.  What he found in her office was her normally immaculate desk with so much on it that it looked like a paper factory blew up.  Mac had her phone in her ear and rifled through the mess looking for something.  It may have been minutes before Mac saw them, except Brandon ran to his mother and hugged her legs.  She tried to look down at the boy and smile while telling whoever was on the phone that she did not get a particular email last night.  Will imagined the person on the other end of the call told Mac what the email said while Mac sat down and tried to find the message on her computer, while patting Brandon on the back and signally Will that this wasn’t a good time. 

Will nodded his head and walked towards her to pick up Brandon.  While he stooped down, he gave her a quick kiss on the head.  Brandon fought his dad a little insisting that he wanted Mommy.  As Will left, he heard Mac tell the person on the phone that everything was alright, her son just came by unexpectedly and she just found the email. 

At around 11:45, Will received an Instant Message from Mac.  “I’m sorry, that call you walked in on this morning has turned into an emergency.  I have to work through lunch.”

He responded, “Can I bring you sandwich and salad?  Greek dressing?”

“You’re sweet, thanks, but no.  I’ve got execs coming in to meet face to face and we’re ordering in.”

“I understand.”

“I’m sorry, Will.”

Even with dozens of floors between them, Will could feel what she meant.  She felt like she banished her son, she broke a date with her husband and she fell behind at work probably because she tried to focus on being at home with them.  Though she wasn’t in the room, Will said out loud, “We’re going to figure this out, Mac.  I promise.”

While he sat back in his chair trying to figure out how to make all this work without her getting burned out, another message popped up on his computer from her. “Can you get me the Black Knight report?  I’m going to need it by this meeting at 12.”  Will wasn’t sure what to do with that message.  “FUCK!  Wrong window.  Now I have to explain why I just told my Packaging Manager that I love him.”

Will smiled.  “Well, make sure you also tell him he needs to get you’re the report.”  Will sat back and realized that she hadn’t said that to him in months.  That’s not entirely true, she’s said it like it was just a mundane fact, like the sky is blue and it will always be. But this time, even if it went to the wrong person, she meant it in a different way. And that’s what he missed. He missed feeling like she meant it and that it was dynamic and something she treasured, that he was something she still wanted and not baggage that she had to deal with. Even if her day had turned bad because she didn’t pay enough attention to her work last night. As he sat back and thought, he realized that he hadn’t said at all, and he missed saying it. He wrote back again, “Oh, and, I love you too.”

“: ) I better go before I embarrass myself anymore.”  Mac disconnected the communication. 

Will leaned back in his chair and smiled off into space.  Things would be okay, he was sure of it.  When his door opened and women’s shoes ran inside before slamming the door, he expected to see Mac, though upon later reflection he wasn’t sure why.  “William Duncan McAvoy, you sure as hell better not be back with your wife already.”

Will turned slowly around, not sure of what to make of Sloane’s entrance.  “Can I help you?”

Sloane walked over to Will for a close investigation.  “Distracted, far away look.  Goofy smile.”  She turned towards his computer.  “You fucking told her you love her?!”

“She’s my wife, I’m supposed to say that every once in a while.”

Sloane started slapping his shoulder.  “Do you know how much work we’re going through out there?  We almost called Reese to get the number of that Rockette he was seeing.”

“I know, I know.  And we’re trying not to let anyone know.”  Will stopped for a second to think about something.  “How did you figure it out?”

“You kept your fucking door open so anyone could see all of,” Sloane waved her open hand in front of his face.  “That!  Anyone that knows you who walked by would see it and know.”

“So what do you want me to do, break up with my wife again until Saturday so you and your dancing orangutans or whatever the fuck can put us back together?”

“They’re not orangutans, their elves.  And it would be the most considerate thing you could do.”

Will looked at the economist seriously.  “Sloane, I mean this from the bottom of my heart.  Get out.”  As she left, he added, “And close the fucking door.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()())()()()()()()

At 4:50, Will pinged Mac.  “Do you need me to pick up Brandon?”

Mac saw the message pop up on the screen she was sharing with a conference room full of grey haired, humorless men.  “Excuse me, that’s my husband.  I guess it’s a little later than I thought.”  She knew that she couldn’t cover this by either texting him back or calling for a 15-minute break, so she pinged him back.  “Yes, please.” And hoped he’d get the message when she closed the window.  At the next stopping point, she asked if they should end for the day since it was getting late and she knew everyone needed to get home to their families.  She learned that most of these men didn’t have families to get home to, just really big houses.  So they wanted to stay and finish.  She agreed, but said they should take a 15 minute break and she would see about getting some more snacks in the conference room. 

Mac ran over to Millie and asked her to make those arrangements while she went down to Will’s office.  Millie offered to call Will, and Mac shook her head.  She needed to see him in person.  Mac made it downstairs and crouched down when Brandon came running out of Will’s office.  Will watched her and knew that she wouldn’t be able to take him tonight.  While outside the office, he said, “You have to work?”  Mac nodded her head and Will signaled her inside.  As his door closed, he made sure the blinds were closed. 

“I’m sorry, Will.  I’m so sorry.  I tried to end the meeting, I told everyone that we could start again in the morning so they could go home to their families and they all looked at me like, like a closet full of… wrinkly old shirts that… haven’t been ironed… in decades.  And they smell like that too.”

As Mac continued pacing around him, he caught her hand and stopped her, putting his hands on her shoulders.  “Hey, I’ve got you covered, okay.  Brandon will be fine here for a little while.  I’ll check in with you later to see if we need to get a babysitter.”

Mac put her head down. “Thanks.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

One of Mac’s VPs was droning on about… Mac didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, she just knew he was 5 minutes into the speech and didn’t sound like he planned on stopping anytime soon. For a second Mac wondered if this is why Charlie drank. She looked at her VP and realized it had to be. She felt her watch vibrate and saw that it was getting close to 6:30 which meant that Will would need to make a decision about whether to call a babysitter or not. Mac looked around the room and texted Will back. She waited for Tom the VP to take a breath and said, “Thanks, Tom. It is 6:30 and I need to go. We can pick this up first thing tomorrow or Tom can speak for me if all of you want to continue to hash this out.” She then picked up her things and walked out telling herself that Tom was capable of making a decision and convincing herself that she didn’t need to stop by the office to check her voicemail and her email and check in on the west coast who seems to need more hand holding than anyone else. She had to be off. She had to turn it off. And then tomorrow she would face the consequences, and hope they were less severe than today.

She walked into the _News Night_ bullpen and saw the typical pre show activity, everyone running around focused on his or her work. She could set herself on fire and no one would notice. Damn she was proud of this group. Will stepped out of his office looking for Jim and his approved copy, when he almost ran over Mac.

“Oh, hi Mac. Brandon is in there. You gonna stay and we can go home together?”

Mac looked in the office and said, “He looks like he’s dragging a little. I better bring him home.”

Will smiled, “You sure it’s him that’s dragging?” Despite the teasing, he could see she was completely exhausted. “Go home. Get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry, Will. I’ll see you later.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Will arrived home around 10 to a dark house. He turned on a lamp in the living room by the door and put his coat in the closet. He immediately went to his son’s room and checked on him. There lay Brandon, arms and legs spread out without a care in the world. He walked into the room and caressed Brandon’s cheek with his finger. “Someday Brandon, I’m going to come in here and talk to you like this and you’ll wake up and understand every word I say. But I think I’m safe for right now.” Will took the chair from Brandon’s desk and sat down. “You see, Brandon, I want you to have a better life than I did. I want you to grow up, marry your hero, just like I did and then do better for her than I did. Because I think I fucked up. You’ll have that feeling someday too. But it’s worse when you make things harder for the person you love. And there will be times that you question whether you did something because you thought it was right or if you were just being selfish. And there’s no good answer to that.”

Will sat back took a breath. “You’re going to learn a lot of things between now and when you’re a dad talking to his sleeping son. But the most important thing is to always remember how incredible the women in your life are. Be sure you tell them everyday. They’re going to keep you out of trouble and frankly, they’re just smarter than we are. Don’t give up on them, especially when you find the one that you’re meant to be with forever. Fight for that one because she’s worth it. Good night, son.” Will left a kiss on his cheek and turned to walk out, but stopped when he saw Mac leaning against the doorframe.

“Mac?” Mac put a finger to her mouth to shush him. He smiled as he walked out the door and closed it. “What the fuck are you doing? I thought you were asleep.”

Mac shook her head. “I couldn’t. I tried. I tossed and turned and thought about those old men in that meeting. They were dumbfounded that I might suggest going home to their families. And it occurred to me that they didn’t have any. I mean, I guess they could or they’re kids are adults and moved away so they don’t have anywhere better to be than in a conference room at ACN. But over and over I looked around and it scared me. That could be me!”

Will wrapped his arms around his wife. “Mac, that’s not us. It’s not going to be us. Not as long as we’re both committed.”

“And you just told Brandon that you are.”

Will smiled sheepishly. “Oh, you heard that.”

“How often do you have those bedside chats with him?”

Will sat down on the couch, followed by Mac. “I don’t know. I always wished that my father would have sat down and had man-to-man talks with me. I guess he tried. He took me fishing and I guess he was trying to bond or something. But the lessons that should be passed… I always wished he would give those to me. One day I was watching Brandon sleep and I thought I would try it, see how hard it was.”

Mac slid her hand in Will’s. “You’re a good father, Will. Maybe the best I’ve ever seen.”

“I want to do better for him. I want him to… the father gets to say who the son is. I want him to know…”

“That he’s loved. And he knows that. He knows his daddy loves him. And, um, I know, I KNOW that when you love a person they feel completely safe and completely taken care of. They feel like they’re the only person in the world. Almost to the point where it’s… it’s easy to… take it for granted.”

Will let that sink in as Mac put her head on his shoulder, not letting go of his hand. “It seemed like today was a hard day. Are you okay?”

“Today sucked.”

“I’m sorry Mac. I didn’t mean to push you and make you mess up at work. We’ll find a good balance. Something that’s workable for you.”

“I had to admit that I did get an email I missed last night.”

Will saw her bite her lip and he felt a wave of guilt run over him. He knew what he was said was right. She couldn’t keep choosing work over him or treat spending time with him and Brandon like she was punching a clock. But he hated that he knew she felt like she failed at work. He shifted so that he had his arm around her. “We’ll figure this out. It’s going to take time, but we will.”

“I spent the day in a meeting doing damage control on a project that spiraled out of control. And I felt so guilty because I wasn’t able to spend time with my husband or son the way I wanted.”

“I’m sorry, Mac. We haven’t found the right balance yet, but we’ll get there, we’ll figure it out.”

Mac turned to look at him and turned his head to look at her. “And then I left the meeting. And I saw my family. And I took my son home and heard my husband say that despite everything I fucked up today, he still calls me his hero. While I watched you with Brandon, I had to ask myself what the fuck has been wrong with me?”

Will, still playing with Mac’s hand, chuckled. He wanted to kiss her and thought it would be welcome, but he still wasn’t entirely sure and he didn’t want to ruin this moment with her. They hadn’t been able to talk like this in too long, so as much as he wanted to make out with her like they were teenagers, he decided to take a step back because this is as intimate as anything else he wants to do with her. “How often do you watch our son sleep and eavesdrop on his father babbling at him?”

“I try to check in on him at least once before I go to work. I’ve never seen you talk to him before, but I always feel better seeing that he’s safe.”

“Yeah, I watch him and realize that marrying you and being his father were the only things I’ve ever done right in my life. But, I sometimes wonder when he’s a little older, will he catch me watching him and think it’s a loving gesture or a creepy one?”

Mac smiled and laughed lightly. “I think he’ll understand. You watch him because you love him.”

“So if you caught me one night watching you from the door, will you see it that way?”

Mac shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I’ll have to since I’ve been doing the same.”

“I thought so.” Mac gave him an exaggerated look of shock. “I mean I thought that I’ve seen you. I wasn’t always sure if it was a dream or not. But I hoped.”

“It was me, Billy. It was.” Mac stood up, taking her hand from his, but she held it out to him. “I don’t want to stare at you from a doorframe ever again.”

“Mac?”

“Come to bed with me, Billy.”


	12. Eleven Pipers Piping

**The Eleventh Day of Christmas**

_Love is not a toy, and no paper will conceal it  
Love is simply joy that I’m home_

Will woke up to the sound of Mac’s alarm. Though he usually hated the sound even more than Mac, this morning it was music to his ears. He rolled over to face his wife, pulling her to him and kissing the back of her neck. He felt her smile. “You can’t sleep in today, can you?”

“I wish I could Will. Bob scheduled a meeting first thing in the morning and I have to –“

“Shhhhhhhhh. I know and it’s okay.”

“Weekend’s coming up pretty fast. I’ll make sure we do something.”

Will untangled himself from her, allowing her to get up. “We have the Christmas party.”

“Fuck. That’s when they’re planning on flash mobbing us and allowing the spirit of chemistry to work its magic or something.”

Will laughed and followed her into the bathroom. “Something like that.”

“But at least we’ll have Brandon taken care of for the night and a nice dinner and I believe a band made up of our friends.”

“What? How did you know about the dinner and Brandon? I know I didn’t tell you that part.”

“I have access to all the bills. Kendra reserved the executive dining room. As for the band –“

Will looked at her confused. “What band? I don’t know anything about a band.”

Mac laughed. “They practice after you leave at night in the Morning Show’s studio. One of the security guards caught them and put it on a report that got sent to me.”

“Why the fuck would a security report go to the president of the network?”

“Neal was at that rehearsal and, I guess over explained what they were doing and dropped my name.”

As Mac got into the shower, he asked, “Who’s in this band? I’d guess Jim, he never passes up a chance to look cool by playing soft pop on a guitar.”

“So says the man who made that a thing at office parties.”

“I just wanted him to be able to keep up. I have much better taste.”

With the water running, Mac said, “I’d hope your taste is better than How I Got to Memphis. How the fuck did you even know that song?”

She has asked him this question a few times and he didn’t know how to explain it. Charlie told him that his grandson liked it and it was like a premonition. Almost an obsession. He had to learn that song. And he didn’t know why until after the funeral. “Finish your shower and I’ll make you some breakfast.”

“Are you taking orders? Because I’d really like some Eggs Benedict.”

Will laughed. When they first got engaged and he had to remember what it was like living with her again, she made that same joke. “Of course you would. But you’ll eat what I put in front of you.”

Will had a bagel in the toaster oven and coffee in the coffee pot when Brandon walked out of his room, looking confused. “Daddy? Is it time to wake up?”

Will looked at his watch. “No, go back to sleep.”

Mac came out of their room, dressed for work. “Mommy?”

“Good morning sweetheart.”

“I was just telling Brandon that it’s not time to wake up yet.”

“No, it isn’t. Mommy has to go to work and Daddy is, probably going back to sleep himself.”

Brandon looked between his parents, still sleepy-eyed and puzzled. “If it’s not time to wake up, why is Daddy awake?”

Will walked over to Mac and put his arm around her. “Because Daddy wanted to make Mommy breakfast and kiss her goodbye.”

“Why?”

“Because he loves her, very, very, much.”

Brandon took a second to process this and said, “Okay.” And then he ran back to his room.

Mac walked to the kitchen and picked up her bagel, pouring her coffee into her travel mug. She took both to the door where Will waited for her. He gave her a kiss and said, “Lunch today?”

Mac bit her lip, “Can I get back to you? I won’t know how my day’s going to go until I get into it.”

“Yeah, let me know, but if I don’t hear from you by noon, I’m storming the castle with sandwiches.”

“I’ll put a guard at the door if necessary, otherwise I’ll welcome it.”

Will kissed his wife again. “You know I’m not waking up every morning at 3 fucking AM, right?”

“Will, I’ve known you for 11 years, or half my life and a quarter of yours –“

“You’re not good at math, but you’re better than that.”

“I made you younger too. And I know you’re not a morning person.” She grabbed his face with one hand again and gave him another kiss before she left.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Mac got to work and started studying for her morning of meetings. She had hoped that Tom would finish the meeting with all necessary decisions made, but instead he sent out meeting minutes to all attendees and an invite to an 8:00 phone meeting. The good news was, she wouldn’t have to sit in a room with them, she could multi task. The bad news was her VP couldn’t take care of the issue, either because he didn’t make a decision or because this group didn’t want to deal with someone other than the president. Tom takes care of a lot of stuff, she knows it’s not Tom’s fault. And most likely this happened because she stayed completely hands on with all issues that came up. They just aren’t used to Tom. Mac went back to her window and looked out at the moon. Will was right, she doesn’t delegate and maybe if she did… If she could just learn, teach other people to trust her staff. Maybe she has to learn to trust them to make decisions… possibly even let them make a mistake to learn from. That idea just gives her a stomachache.

She looked outside again. She can let Tom take the lead on the meeting. He knows the information better than she does. She’ll be there if necessary, but… She can just hear Will’s voice in her head laughing at the idea that she would stay quiet in a meeting. She looked down. It’s what she needs to do. She has to learn how.

She walked back to her desk and turned on her lamp. She looked at the family picture they got taken in October. She traced Will and Brandon’s faces. She would have to learn to delegate for them. She’d have to take the chance of failing for them. She didn’t know if she could, but Will’s voice echoed in her head again. He told her that they needed to give permission to fuck things up, because they will. She knew that he meant she would, because she was the one who would have to learn and make the changes. She looked back at the picture and decided it would be hard, but she can spend most of her call this morning on mute, and then hopefully it will get easier.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Will pinged her at 11:55. “Lunch?”

She was in the middle of another meeting. She tried to let Andrea lead this one, but it was a negotiation for shared Olympics coverage and Mac really needed to participate more actively. A question went out about cost sharing and Mac had written the proposal and knew what she was willing to give up. Andrea had the proposal and should have read it, but the question was directed at Mac and she knew the answer better. So she answered before replying to Will. When she did get back to him, she said, “NO castle storming for you. I’m caught in a meeting that’s going to go for a little while.”

“You want me to bring you something?”

“Only if you promise not to stay.” Immediately she regretted how she said it. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean, I have to be here right now.”

“No worries. I can bring you something from that Russian place down the street and I’ll leave it with Millie.”

Mac didn’t know if he was disappointed and she hated thinking he was. But she had to focus. She sent him a quick “Thank you,” before paying attention to her call again.

She found 15 minutes to go down to see Will, but he was out. Kendra pulled her aside and reminded her how disappointed the crew would be if their work is for naught. Mac nodded her head and agreed. She told Kendra she’d been thinking about something and wanted her opinion. They discussed it until Mac needed to go back to work.

At 5:15, Mac brought Brandon down to the News Night bullpen to see his father before they went home. Brandon looked at his mom and, it seemed to Mac, said much louder than he needed to, “Mommy, are you going to kiss Daddy again?” The two parents looked at each other, then around them to see who heard. It looked like only Jim heard it, so Mac called him into Will’s office and they shut the door.

“Okay. We are back together, but we don’t want them to know about it yet because of all the trouble they’re going to.”

Will looked at his wife wanting her to calm down. “So, Mac’s going to leave in a couple minutes with Brandon just like any other day. On Saturday, someone will call her and she’ll go to her office and then be shocked when she’s ushered to dinner with me. Okay? Nothing changes.”

Jim looked at the couple surprised. “That’s the plan? A private dinner, just the two of you?”

Mac stared at Will open mouthed. “You didn’t tell Jim?”

“Kendra was supposed to. And since Maggie’s staying at his place, I thought she’d talk about it.” Will looked at Jim, “How the fuck don’t you know? I’ve known since Monday!”

Mac added, “I’ve known since Tuesday.”

Jim felt like his brain was about to explode, but he turned to Mac and asked, “How the fuck did you know?”

Before Mac could answer, Will said, “It doesn’t fucking matter.”

Mac shot her husband a look. “Will, child.”

Will rolled his eyes at his wife. “It’s not the first time he’s heard the word.” HE watched Mac give him a dirty look and laughed at her. “Go out there, and… don’t do anything. Mac just leave with Brandon and as long as none of us draw attention to ourselves, everything will be fine.”

Everyone agreed. Jim went out first and over to Tess’ desk, hoping that he could distract her since she seems to see everything. Will pulled Mac behind his door and kissed her, and then she left with Brandon, who started talking until his mother picked him up and put a hand over his mouth.


	13. 12 Drummers Drumming

**The Twelfth Day of Christmas**

At 9:55AM, Mac ran down to the News Night for their run down. She has it in her schedule to visit each show once a month to see how they’re running. She got off the elevator and went towards Kendra’s desk immediately. When Kendra saw her, she met Mac halfway. They talked on their way to the conference room and were the first to arrive. Mac made sure she sat close to Jim during the meeting and didn’t look at Will at all, to keep up the pretense of their separation. At first Will felt a little twinge of anger, but then he figured out what was happening and rolled his eyes, assuming she’d figure out what he was thinking eventually.

After the meeting, Will called after Mac while she raced to the elevator. Mac turned around and said, “Will, I’m late for a meeting, can this wait?”

Hearing the tone of her voice, he wasn’t sure if this was part of the ruse or not. “I just wanted to see what the plan for Brandon was today.”

Mac looked at him suspiciously. “I’ll get him from daycare, we’ll get some dinner and then I’ll get him home.”

Will nodded his head and said, “Okay. I guess that’s fair. I’ll see you when you bring him down here then.”

“Yeah!”

Will watched her get on the elevator and turned back to his staff. He immediately went to Kendra’s desk, putting his hand on her shoulder and whispering, “Can I get you in my office?”

Kendra nodded and followed him to his office, letting him close the door behind them. They both sat down on opposite sides of his desk. “I saw Mac when she came in and she went directly to your desk. What’s she planning?”

Kendra shook her head. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I was a prosecutor, you know. I used to tear witnesses apart when I knew they were lying until they started crying and telling the truth.”

Kendra cocked her head at Will and said, “I’ve had a courthouse beat. That’s not how that works.” Kendra smiled at the look on Will’s face that let him know he’d been caught. “If she’s up to something, I don’t know about it. And if I did know about it, she actually outranks you, so I couldn’t tell you about it anyway.” While Will let that settle in, Kendra got up and walked out of his office.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Will got a text from Mac that she couldn’t meet for lunch. She didn’t elaborate so Will didn’t push for details. Mac came to News Night with Brandon at 5 and they took separate elevators to get to her office for dinner. Millie agreed to sneak them in some street food to keep up the ruse from the staffers. Towards the end of dinner, Leona arrived.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt… Well I don’t know what this is. Don’t normal people eat this shit outside?”

Mac smiled at her, hoping that Brandon wasn’t going to pick up certain parts of her vocabulary, not that living with Will protects him from it. “It’s cold outside so we decided to eat up here.”

“Well that’s too bad, I thought there was a good old fashioned sneaking around happening.” Will and Mac looked at each other feeling a little guilty. “Never mind, I don’t care. I wanted to take a look and see what you’ve been doing to my network. You know it was Charlie’s idea to make you president, but I made sure it happened.”

Will answered, “and we’re forever grateful, Leona.”

“You know, I like you a whole lot more now that you’re not tanking my ratings.”

“Always a pleasure.”

She walked around the office like she owned the place and stopped when she saw Brandon. “And this kid. Do I know him?”

Mac walked to her son and said, “That’s Brandon.”

“No it isn’t, he’s too big. He wasn’t this big the last time I saw him.”

“No, no, it’s him.” Will shot a look at Mac wondering if Leona had been drinking.

“It really is me, Gamma Lee.” Brandon ran to Leona and hugged her knees.

“Yeah, I guess it is.” She then turned to Mac and said, “You’re getting too skinny. Go eat another burger.”

Mac was trying to keep a straight face while she asked, “Did you say you wanted to get a tour of the place. We can leave Will with Brandon while I show you around.”

“That sounds good.”

Will watched the women leave while he sat down with Brandon. “Someday son, you’re going to get married and your wife is going to have friends, and weird things like that are just going to happen. Other times it’s going to be your friends, and then you’re going to want to stay out as long as possible so your wife doesn’t get a chance to retaliate.”

It took about 20 minutes for Mac to show Leona around the executive offices, she came back to her office talking louder than necessary to warn Will. She announced that she needed to get Brandon home and that Will needed to get ready for his show. Leona pointed out it wasn’t 6 yet. Will came out and said between hair and makeup and Jim likes to run through the sound checks, though he doesn’t understand why since the board shouldn’t change. With a wave of her hand, Leona dismissed Will to go back to his studio. Will nearly ran out and over to the elevator.

When they heard the elevator ding, Leona looked at Mac. “Do you think he suspects anything?”

“Hard to tell, he was suspicious all day, but now I think he’s just afraid to go home.” The women laughed. “Do you need anything else? You have my numbers and I usually let him watch his dad before he goes to bed.”

“I raised one kid, I think I can handle this little cherub.”

Mac smiled, “Thanks, Leona.”

“Of course. Do you know how you’re going to kill a few hours?”

“Killing a few hours here has never been an issue.”

Leona left with Brandon and Mac turned the light off in her office. She didn’t think anyone from _News Night_ or _Right Now_ would be able to see her office light on, but she had to be sure. Somehow ACN Morning knew.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Mac watched Will’s sign off and ran to the bathroom for one more makeup check and then made her way to the ACN Morning studio. She walked in amazed at the way they decorated. Maggie saw her first and ran over to hug her. “You look dazzling, Mac. Absolutely gorgeous.”

Mac smiled. “Thanks. And thank you for all this.”

“It’s our pleasure. Now go, go. They’ll be here any second.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Will got off the air and immediately took off his jacket and started loosening his tie. Kendra yelled out to him. “Will, I think they want you at the Morning studio. Said something about rehearsal?”

“Is that where everyone is? Can you call them and tell them that they should learn the music tonight, I’ll just follow them.”

“Neal’s really nervous about how all this is going to go. Just go down there and rehearse for 5 minutes. That’s how long it would take you to change. Just use that time and bring your suit back tomorrow.” When Will looked reluctant, Kendra added, “It’s for the team.”

“I’m only staying 5 minutes.”

Kendra watched Will get on the elevator and then walked around the newsroom floor letting anyone not already in position know that they could go down now and start filling in.  

()()()()()()()()()()())()()()()()()()

Will made it to the Morning studio’s floor and heard the band playing soft music. They weren’t bad and they’d be able to make it through a dinner for he and his wife tomorrow. He felt lucky to have a group of friends who would do this for him and Mac. He made a mental note to tell Mac all about it when he got home. In fact, he should probably text her now, let her know he’s going to be a little late. He just has to tell her he’s going to hang out with the crew, she’ll assume it’s at Hang Chew’s and she’ll understand.

As he approached the door, he realized something didn’t look right. He put his phone back in his pocket as he approached the door to investigate. The first thing he saw was a table with candle light in the center of the news floor. His friends set up a platform for them to perform. As he walked in, Maggie met him and told him to take a seat at the table. He did and out from the direction of control came Mac, in a dress he’s pretty sure he’s never seen, though he does know that she owns a lot of dresses and they all look as good on her as this one. Will stood behind her chair, and she took his hand. “Dance with me?”

“Of course.”

After one dance the couple sat down and Maggie brought out their wine, filled their glasses and told them what they had for dinner tonight. Will thanked her and laughed. “You did this?”

“Kendra already made all the arrangements, I just asked if we could move it up a day. I wanted them to have their party, and I didn’t want to wait to have some time with you.”

He put his arm around his wife. “What about Brandon? Oh my God, is that why Leona was here?”

“Don’t worry, I talked to her, she’s not high. I told her to lay it on thick when you were with us so you wouldn’t think too hard about why she was there.”

Will smiled, “You did all this for me.”

“They did all this for us.”

Will stood up and said, “Thank you. Everyone, thank you! This is just… Thank you!”

Maggie and Neal brought out their dinner and the two ate while the band played. Will held Mac’s hand as they listened to the band. When they finished eating, Will took her hand again so they could dance. Jim and the band played an acoustic version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You”. Will held Mackenzie close and said, “They’re not that bad.”

“And they’re not coming at us in a flashmob.”

Will laughed, “Maybe not tonight, but I know that Tess really wants to do it tomorrow.”

“I guess I can live with that.”

Will continued to sway with Mac in his arms. He felt completely content and then he started chuckling. Mac looked at him. “What’s so funny?”

“I shouldn’t say it, not now.”

“Well I don’t know how the fuck you can not say it anymore.”

Will looked around because he didn’t want to be heard. Since Jim was still singing and no one seemed to have heard them now, against his better judgment he said, “For a little while I didn’t know how things were going to work out, so I decided that if we didn’t patch things up by New Years I would offer to fire Jim.”

“What?”

“I thought you could come back and be my EP, I thought I could fire Jim in a heartbeat.”

Mac wasn’t sure what to say. “Okay, first of all, I am the president and I intend to continue being the president. I make a difference there, Will. It may not be the thing I love doing most, but I don’t want to give it up either. At least not right now.”

“And you know that I’ll support that. I was just trying to find a way to help you.”

Mac nodded her head. “I know. And I hope you also know that before you make a decision like that, you need to talk to me about it, both as your superior and your wife.”

“I know.”

“Because if we decided I want to be your EP again, I’d make sure to transfer Jim to DC so he’s closer to Maggie before I’d take over your show.”

Will realized that he hadn’t thought of that option, then he cocked his head and looked at her. “You thought about that too?”

Before Mac could answer, Jim and the band stopped playing so Mac and the wait staff clapped followed. Will joined them and then gave a quick nod to Jim, prompting Mac to shoot a look at her husband. Jim looked at the couple and said, “Thank you everyone. Tonight we’re celebrating Will and Mac who have led our team both with their many decades of experience and journalistic integrity, but also by showing each of us care that’s gone above and beyond what a couple of bosses need to. If Will were up here, he’d be able to make this pivot a whole lot smoother.” Jim looked at Mac and said, “Hell, Mac could either. But, I’d like to invite Will to the stage for a special performance.”

Will gave his wife a kiss and pulled out her chair so she could sit and then went up to the stage, took Jim’s guitar and adjusted the microphone as he said, “Well, we haven’t rehearsed this yet, but I guess the band has been good enough that we can wing it. Mac, I love you and I know that as long as we’re working together, we’re going to make it.”

Will looked behind him at the band setting a tempo.  
_The snow is snowing and the wind it is blowing_  
_But I can weather the storm_  
_What do I care how much it may storm_  
_I've got my love to keep me warm_

As the band continued to song, the members of the News Night team and their significant others started dancing. In the last few lines of the song, Will but the guitar on its stand and took the microphone out to the house and took Mac’s hand so they could dance.

The party continued until the band ran out of songs they knew. At the end of the night, Will and Mac went to a hotel down the street that Mac had arranged for during the day. They both knew that figuring out how to balance everything would take time and work, but they had a renewed focus on finding a balance that would work for them.


End file.
